Kyuubi's Calm
by Ekonika
Summary: Yasu OC comes to the leaf village to become a better ninja, accompanied by her stallion Akira. She plans on only staying a little while, but someone may have a different plan for her...
1. Konohagakure

**Copyright 2007 by Ekonika (S.N.R.)**

**No part of this plot, my own characters, or text can be used without my permission. I do not own Naruto or any of its characters, but the plot and Yasu and Akira are my own and copyrighted. **

**©2007 Ekonika (S.N.R.)**

**Chapter 1: Konohagakure**

**Teen rated for language (eventually maybe) and character death + blood and gore a little. And also some other reasons I haven't thought of yet.+**

_ Hi, I'm Yasu (that means calm for all you not-so-in-touch-with-your-Japanese-selves, but don't worry, I wouldn't know if I didn't have my handy translator). I'm a ninja in training of the mist village, although I was born in the waterfall area. Ok, so I'm not technically a ninja, yet. No headband, and no legal documents. My past? For me to know. However, I've been on my own as soon as I turned seven, and although it upset me then, now I think of it as a blessing. I was on my own for those first three years, until I found a young horse. It had just been weaned and had a broken rib from its mother kicking it out. I raised the young colt and we became stronger together, and are now inseparable. Anyway, I'm traveling toward the village hidden in the leaves to become a real ninja, and to train and become stronger. I'm about a day out from it, and that's where my story begins._

My colt had grown, and was a stallion now. His coat had turned a deep black, and he grazed a few feet away as I rested. We were just off the road to the leaf village, and the sun was rising. I lifted my head and watched it above the trees and got to my feet. My belongings included a horse brush, some fruits, two changes of clothes, and a water can. I brushed my stallion with one hand and ate an apple with the other, passing him one as well. We exchanged our morning greeting and I packed the belongings into two sacks, slinging them over his rump. I mounted and we were off.

"We're gonna reach that village today, aren't we, boy? We _have_ been traveling for a week, and I'm just glad we made it past those thieves. Of course, they didn't think you could do a substitution jutsu as well, now, did they?" We talked for a while, and when the sun was directly overhead I dismounted and refilled the water. Akira, my stallion, drank lightly from the crystal clear stream. After another fruit each, we were on our way.

I nudged Akira into a trot as I grew excited about seeing the leaf village. I'd heard many strong ninja came from there, and many more resided within its walls. I was pretty confident that I could find a teacher, or at least someone to teach me a few fire-style jutsu. They'd probably have to be patient, though. I couldn't pick up on my opposite element easily, but when I got a jutsu, I knew it for life.

As Akira continued down the trail at a brisk pace we passed a squad of young ninja on gate duty. They were the first line of defense for the village, three miles out. They stopped me by blocking the way because my horse wore no saddle or bridle and asked my business in the village. The tallest one watched me carefully as I answered, and the three young ninja under his command followed his example. I felt uneasy as they all watched me.

"I'm going to the leaf village to train. I don't have a ninja headband because I never went to a school, but I plan on getting one." They seemed satisfied and allowed me to pass. I kept Akira at a walk now, more cautious, so we wouldn't seem a threat. We passed another squad of ten ninja at the mile-and-a-half mark, and I told them the same. They nodded me by, and I sensed ten more ninja in the surrounding branches. Akira began trotting and ignored my signals to slow down. I eventually let him canter; if he was nervous it was best to let him use some energy.

"Halt!" A voice called as we pulled up to an open gate. This time Akira listened to me and we stopped in front of the gate with the leaf village symbol on it. Two shenobi leapt down from the gate and landed on either side of Akira. I told them my purpose and they were insistent on identification. I held out my card that had my name, weight, hair color, picture, and age on it, and they recorded it on a little computer. As they validated my entry, I saw an old man walk by with a kid in an orange suit following him and complaining that he wasn't being taught any new jutsu. I recognized the man as Jiraiya, the toad sage. I'd read about him in the last town I'd stayed at. As he walked by he glanced out the gate and stopped. The yellow-haired boy stopped talking and turned to look as well, and I realized he was about my age.

The gatekeepers waved me through and the man approached me with an odd smile. The yellow haired boy followed, watching me curiously, and I figured, noticing their headbands, that they could teach me something.

"Do you know where I could learn some fire-style jutsu? Or any jutsu, I just need to advance my skills." The man lit up and the boy tipped his head sideways like a dog.

"Hello, my name's Jiraiya, and I don't believe we've met, gorgeous. I know tons of jutsu; I'll be your trainer!" The man said, and Akira laid his ears back as he began trotting off away from the gate. Jiraiya jogged alongside Akira and the boy followed, yelling.

"Pervy sage! I'm your student! You can't just go off and train some other ninja! You were training me first!" At this point the yellow-haired boy tackled Jiraiya and Akira halted and faced the boy. After a short tussle, Jiraiya came out on top of a hog-tied, struggling boy. He grinned at me.

"Sorry, Naruto can be a bit annoying sometimes. I'd be glad to help you train, miss." I stared at Naruto struggling on the ground and then at the sage Jiraiya.

"I'm really not in the mood to train right now. Is there a hotel around here?" Jiraiya began answering, then I cut him off, "Not you, I'm asking Naruto." Jiraiya's face fell as he released his captive and rose to his feet.

"Naruto, your training's done for today. Show our village's guest to a hotel. Lucky kid…" Jiraiya walked over to a shady bench and sat next to a food cart, eating an apple from it as he tossed the merchant a coin. I turned to look at Naruto, and he looked up at me. I suddenly got a weird feeling in my stomach and felt the need to look away. That was odd; I'd always been the last person to look away from an eye-lock. I shrugged it off as Naruto began speaking, although I kept my gaze on Akira's neck or the scenery.

"Where have you traveled from, miss?" His voice sounded nice… when he wasn't yelling at the weird pervert.

"I've come from around the country, I've been training since I was young, but it's been on my own since I was seven." He looked at my face again and studied me for a moment; I felt his gaze. He then looked at Akira's head.

"Will your horse follow me? I can't lead him; he's not wearing a bridle. By the way, I'm Naruto. What's your name?" He put a hand on Akira's cheekbone, and to my infinite surprise, Akira nuzzled Naruto. He never took to people this quickly.

"I'm Yasu, and this is Akira. He'll follow you, he's very intelligent." Naruto grinned and rubbed Akira's forehead before placing his fingers delicately on Akira's neck and leading him by that touch.

"What kind of hotel are you looking for? Like, how much do you have to spend?"

"I plan on staying a while, so… something not too pricey but with a room and bathroom." He nodded and stopped, thinking.

"There's a place near my house that's pretty nice, and very cheap, only 600 (60? Whatever, the equivalent of 6 dollars) yen a day. Is that all right? It's made for long-term visitors." I replied it was fine, and he kept up a conversation.

"Do you know a lot of jutsu? I know how to control my chakra, like climbing trees with only my feet and walking on water. I could teach you if you want. I only know a couple fire-style jutsu, though."

"You said you live near where I'll be staying? That sounds like it would be easy for you to teach me. I would like to learn to walk on water." Naruto continued asking me questions, and they were all about jutsu. I asked a few of my own and found out that if I wanted a headband I could take some tests and become an official ninja. All too soon we arrived outside a pleasant building with flowering plants outside the doorway. I dismounted and Naruto pet Akira's neck. I slung the packs over my shoulder.

"Where can Akira stay?"

"There's a pen on the other side of this building, I think you can get a room that attaches to it. It has green grass, and the hotel keeper can get you a watering bucket. I'll take him there, if you want." I nodded and still to my surprise, Akira followed, but not without saying goodbye to me. I figured he saw good character in Naruto. I walked in and was surprised again; this hotel looked nothing like a hotel. There was a living room right inside the doorway, then a small desk with a spiral-bound notebook that had the people staying here logged in it. Further back I could see a hallway with five doors branching off of it, two of them with nametags. A woman that had been sitting in a comfy chair stood.

"Welcome to the Bamboo hotel. Are you new to town?" She walked behind the desk as I approached it. "The name's Hiroko, and do you know how long you'll be staying?"

"No, and my name's Yasu, y-a-s-u. I brought my horse with me, is it extra for him? Someone who lives around here, Naruto, put him in your field. Could I get a room attached to the field?"

"It's not extra for any animal, as long as it's well taken care of and cleaned up after. You may have room three, if you'd like. It's one of the two that connect to the field, and nobody's in the other room. Naruto, you said?" I nodded as Hiroko passed me a key on a chain. I put it on as a necklace. "He's a good kid; lives right a block down in an apartment. He sometimes helps out here, with the sweeping and things. I give him little tips now and then. Speak of him, here he comes now." We turned to look as Naruto brushed aside the door flap and walked up to the counter.

"Hello, Ms. Hiroko. Yasu, have you booked a room alright?" I nodded again, getting the light feeling again. "Good, I was worried there might not be a vacancy." He looked at the log book. "Room three? Alright, I'll get a nametag put together while you make yourself comfortable." I walked down the hallway while Naruto followed, hands folded behind his head in a casual way. I opened the door and sighed at the quaint-ness of the little room. There was a bed, extra soft, and a window by a door on the far wall. I opened up the window and Akira soon found me. I turned around and saw Naruto watching me examine the room, and became very interested in the wood floor. There was a small dresser and another door that lead to a small bathroom with a tub and a faucet that could be hung on the wall to make a shower, plus a toilet and sink. As I left the bathroom Naruto pulled open the top drawer and gestured me over. In the drawer there were door signs, one that said 'Do not disturb', one that said 'out', and one that said 'welcome'.

"Yasu, if you want, I could put a small picture on your nameplate. I could do any village symbol or something." Naruto rubbed the back of his head nervously, and I realized he probably felt the same sort of weird feeling as me.

"Could you do a horse head or some waves?"

"Yeah, no problem. I'll do both. I'll have your nametag ready by sunset. You should rest or take a shower if you want, but make sure the pervy sage isn't around." He grinned and started toward the door. I hesitated the reached out for his arm.

"Wait." We both stared at where my hand held his arm. "Where do you live at? What time could I start learning from you?" Naruto's face grew a light pink as I dropped his arm.

"I live a block east, in the apartment building. Room three, same as yours. Feel free to come around anytime. Tomorrow I have to train with Master Jiraiya from sunrise till lunch, and I think you should rest. Maybe tomorrow afternoon I could show you the town?" He blushed clearly this time, and I felt the heat rising in my own face as well. All the last 15 years of my life being acknowledged as a human being and never being acknowledged as a female / possible-girlfriend and now the first two guys I'd met in the leaf village paid attention to me, and one even sort of asked me out on a date! I felt so giddy that I stuttered.

"Y-yes, I think th-that'd be neat. I'll meet you outside the front door?" I saw Naruto's mouth curve upward and he shrugged, acting nonchalant.

"Sure. I'll be back soon with your nametag- I'll hang it up on your door. See ya tomorrow." He casually made a two-fingered salute and left. I unpacked my outfits and put them in the dresser before walking out the back door. Akira was standing right outside, and when the door opened he proceeded to come in.

"Akira, out boy. There's a shelter in the field, I can see it from here." Akira sniffed at the bed and stuck his head into the bathroom, examining the room himself. When he seemed satisfied he laid down with a grunt beside my bed. I sighed and pet his shoulder. "Alright, you can stay inside, but only for a few days until we're fully rested. You keep watch; I'm going to bathe." Once inside the bathroom I stripped down to nothing and looked in the mirror. It was the first time I'd looked in a mirror for years, and I was definitely curious. My brown hair fell around my shoulders and a little past them, long enough so it was warm in winter, but short enough it wouldn't get in my way. I had become nicely curved; the traveling had kept the weight off, as well as the slim food amounts.

I picked up my t-shirt and skort and folded them before putting them in a small hamper. I stepped into the tub and started the water, letting out a long, tired sigh. I hadn't realized how tired I was from traveling. As I scrubbed using the water from the bottom of the tub, I thought of Naruto. He had seemed to know exactly what I needed before I knew myself. He'd probably just known because he works here, and a lot of travelers come by. I finished my shower and dried off, dressing in my nightclothes: a silk blouse and some pants. I flopped onto the bed and almost immediately fell asleep.

**I am well aware that my Fanfic is mainly about a character not found in the series. I'm not asking you to like it or whatever, I posted it because I wanted to. To tell you the truth, I'm hardly expecting reviews. Mostly it's for ME to read. We all have our little fantasies now, huh?**

**At the request of a reader, I shall put a definition of Yasu up, and it shall be a picture. First, I gotta draw it. XD Yeah, go me! XD**


	2. Ninja: Academy Student Level

**Copyright 2007 by Ekonika (S.N.R.)**

**No part of this plot, my own characters, or text can be used without my permission. I do not own Naruto or any of its characters, but the plot and Yasu and Akira are my own and copyrighted. **

**©2007 Ekonika (S.N.R.)**

**Chapter 2: Ninja**

The next morning the sunlight broke through my window. I blinked at the light and sat up in bed. Akira lifted his head and peered at me, saying how heavily I'd slept.

"It has been a long time since I've been able to sleep securely, you know. When was the last time you got to sleep inside?" The stallion grunted and lifted himself to his feet. "It is weird for you to sleep all night as well. Need to go outside?" I pushed open the door, realizing I'd forgotten to lock it last night. Akira walked out to use the restroom, and I did the same indoors. I pulled out the last of the fruits: two apples and a kiwifruit. Akira heard the rustle of the bag and was soon sticking his head in the window. I passed him both apples and ate the kiwifruit myself, getting juice everywhere. I took the brush off the dresser and ran it over him quickly, making his coat shine. After a quick wash and dress I locked the back door and went out to the living room, noticing a nametag with an elaborate drawing of a horse cantering on water. I smiled and entered the peaceful room.

Two people, a man and a woman, were sitting in two of the five comfy lounge chairs, talking with Hiroko about something or another. When I entered, a hush fell over them and they all smiled.

"Yasu! Welcome, these are the other two boarders here, Kiyoko," the woman bowed playfully, "and Takumi." The man also bowed. Takumi spoke first.

"Yasu, was it? Well, you seem a bit young to be traveling on your own, but I take it you're not alone by that stallion out in the field. I walked out there yesterday to do some jogging and was nearly split in two." I hurriedly tried to apologize, but he stopped me. "Don't worry; I should have been payin' attention. Where are you from? We love hearing stories from far-away travelers."

"I don't have any stories, sorry sir. I have come here to train and learn fire jutsu. Even though I don't have a headband, I'm planning on getting one, this morning in fact. I'm a skilled ninja, I had to be to make it this far. If you don't mind me asking, what do you do for a living?" Takumi answered first again, but Kiyoko and Hiroko didn't seem to mind, so I didn't either.

"I paint!" He exclaimed dramatically, and took off at a jog, declaring he'd bring out a painting he was working on, etc. The women laughed and turned to me.

"You'd better get out of here, when he starts on his paintings, you'll be trapped for a while." Kiyoko giggled.

"Yeah, but they are quite good." – Hiroko

"Yeah, you have a point there. How much free time do you have this morning?" – Kiyoko

"I don't have to be anywhere until noon, although I'd like to get a headband this morning."

"Well, if you want to know what I do for a living, I'm a maid. I work for three different houses, and I clean around here instead of paying the rent. I don't make so much, just enough for what I need, and I'm saving up to go on a world trip. Here comes Takumi, brace yourself." Takumi came in carrying two canvasses, one half-painted and all sketched out: it was of the village.

"I'm making this one from the roof of this building, and I've worked on _this_ one for a few months, finished it yesterday." He turned the other canvas so I could see, and I gasped. It was of a sunset over the mountains in the distance, and the five Hokage's faces were visible on the side of the painting. He passed it to me and I examined all the little strokes of many-colored paints. I passed it back, smiling. Takumi took it back, grinning spectacularly. I remembered the others' warning and acted.

"I have somewhere to go today, but I'd love to see your artwork sometime." Takumi turned to the women and began talking to them, and I laughed to myself as they made excuses and ditched. Outside the door flap, Akira waited for me. "How'd you get out here, boy?" I looked at the fence and saw it was rather low at the gate. I shrugged and swung up onto his back with my purse securely looped to my belt. We were off to the young ninja school, I had directions from Naruto.

We arrived at ten o'clock, and I walked in leading Akira. There was a class full of young students, and the sensei at the front of the room. He paused and the whole class looked at me with Akira in the doorway.

"Iruka-sensei?" I asked, and he nodded. He set down the chalk he'd been drawing with and came over.

"I'm in the middle of a class now, so what is your business?" He glanced at Akira.

"I was referred to you to take a test and receive a ninja headband. Is it right?"

"Yes… are you ready to test now? If you are, could I use you as a lesson for my students?" I glanced around the room.

"Sure." He grinned down at me and turned to the class, clapping his hands together.

"Students, today we have… sorry, what was your name miss? And where are you from?"

"I'm Yasu, from around the water villages. I'm here to take my ninja test, because I haven't lived in a place that had ninja schools." Iruka smiled and passed me a sheet of paper.

"First you have to take the written test, so go sit up in the front row if you would, and when you're done you'll have to take the jutsu test. Also, is the horse… indoor-trained?" I nodded and sat down, and the class giggled as Akira sat in front of me looking odd. Iruka went on teaching as I looked at the first question.

What are the basic ninja skills?

Ninjutsu, Genjutsu, and Taijutsu

Kunai, Water jutsu, and fire jutsu

Balance, intelligence, and beauty

I circled A. and continued to number 2…

It was five minutes to noon, and I stood outside the Bamboo hotel, deciding how to wear my new headband. I'd done the jutsu correctly, and got 100 on the written test. Iruka passed me the headband and I tried really hard to contain my joy of having the actual proof of being a ninja. I couldn't keep the ear-to-ear grin off my face, however. Now I stood and pulled it around my forehead, under my bangs. It was a _head_band, after all. I'd burnt off the majority of the joyful feeling by racing Akira back to the hotel, which was rather fair because I could use the rooftops and he could run faster but only on the ground. Now I waited, and, exactly at noon, the yellow-haired ninja came jogging up the road.

"Sorry if I'm late, training was a little harder today, the old man actually made me work instead of chasing the ladies. He stopped and stood to his full height and his face brightened. "You got your headband! It even has the fire village symbol! Congratulations! Did you see Iruka-sensei? He was my first teacher."

"Yes, he was very kind." Naruto's grin widened.

"Are you ready to go out and see the town? I want to show you my friends and my second teacher, before I got the pervy sage. Come on!" I waved bye to Akira, who I'd put in the field and told to stay.

First, we stopped by a ramen shop and Naruto bought lunch. As he finished his third bowl (and I finished my first) a pink-haired girl walked in.

"Oh, hey Thakura." Naruto said through the last mouthful of ramen. He swallowed and introduced me. "Yasu, this is Sakura. She was on my squad after I'd just become a ninja. Sakura, this is Yasu, a ninja from out-of-town. She's come here to train." Sakura and I regarded each other and shook hands.

"Nice to meet you." –Sakura

"Likewise." Sakura sat and ordered a bowl of ramen as well, and leaned over to me while it was being prepared.

"Watch out for Naruto, he's annoying sometimes." She winked and sat upright, laughing. I joined in, automatically liking her. Naruto looked over with a look on his face that said he was worried we were laughing about _him_. He put down his bowl on the counter, rather roughly.

"Are you done, Yasu?" I tilted the bowl back and got every last bit of ramen in it, placing it on the counter in a similar fashion. He blinked. Sakura giggled as her ramen was placed before her.

"I'll see you around Sakura."

"Mm-hmm. Bye!" Naruto and I left, and now he took me to a bridge with a ninja standing in the middle, reading a book. He didn't even look up as Naruto ran at him.

"Kakashi-sensei! I'm free from training today! Jiraiya said I could show our village's guest around town today!"

"That's nice."

"Yasu, this is Kakashi. Sorry he's too stuck on his _perverted book_ to introduce himself, especially since he's the first one I'm introducing you to (planned that is)."

"Hello, Yasu. Welcome to the leaf village." Naruto grunted and started shaking Kakashi by the arm.

"Kakashi-sensei, you're not even looking at her!"

"Alright, just stop shaking me; you're going to make me drop my book." Kakashi looked up and froze. I was standing five feet away, and Naruto glanced from Kakashi to me and back.

"Sensei, why'd you get so warm?" Kakashi looked down at his book. I saw him take a deep breath.

"No reason. Go show our beautiful guest the village. Buy her dinner, my treat." Kakashi reached into his pocket and pulled out a 5,000 yen paper. "Make it nice, alright Naruto?" Kakashi grinned at him and nodded towards me without making eye contact, and Naruto stared in wonder at the roughly $50 that had just been handed to him. He shrugged and pocketed it, grinning at me. We continued across the bridge. As I stepped off the last bit of bridge, I looked up, feeling like I was being watched. A red-haired boy sat on a low tree branch about fifty feet away, and he was looking right at me. He had a deep look in his eyes, and it warned me, but I tapped Naruto on the shoulder.

"Who is that?" I pointed at the boy, and he'd shifted in that split second to facing the opposite direction. Naruto grinned.

"That's Gaara." He said, loud enough for the other boy to hear, apparently, because he turned his head ever so slightly and watched us. "We've fought before, when he tried to destroy the village and Sasuke, but I won. Now he hangs out around here. He's had a rough past, like me." I became interested.

"What was your past?" Naruto looked at me like he was a little annoyed, and I got the message. "Alright, then who's Sasuke?" At this, Naruto got just a bit upset.

"Sasuke was my other teammate, Kakashi is his trainer now. Everybody loves Sasuke, cause he's such a skilled ninja and all. Humph." We kept walking, but only a few steps after Naruto had stopped talking, a boy dropped from the sky. As he landed in front of us, I looked up at the sky. I returned my gaze to the boy after I ascertained it was not raining any more people.

"What about me?" A black-haired boy asked, grinning. Naruto swung at him, and he easily dodged. The new boy spotted me, and I guessed he was Sasuke.

"Hi, I'm Sasuke." Yep. So I figured. "Are you new here?"

"Yeah, I came to the village to get my headband," I pointed at my headband, "and to learn some fire jutsu." Sasuke smiled slightly.

"I could teach you more fire-style jutsu than Naruto. He's not that great at it." Naruto shoved Sasuke back away from me.

"What would YOU know about my jutsu?! We haven't trained together in at least a year, and get away from Yasu! She got here yesterday, and I'M showing her around town!" Naruto's shouts were accentuated by punches, which Sasuke blocked or dodged. I folded my hands nervously as the fight was carried away from me, when suddenly Sasuke landed in front of me.

"I could teach you fire-style jutsu sometime. Where are you staying?" I glanced at Naruto, who was looking for his opponent. He found Sasuke and charged. The tackle hit and Sasuke was flipped through the air, but landed on his feet as Naruto did.

"Um, Sasuke?!" I shouted. They both froze, waiting for me to speak. "Could you teach me some jutsu tomorrow?" Naruto's face fell and Sasuke stood, triumphant.

"Sure. I'll meet you outside the ninja academy, sunrise? I have to train later tomorrow, because I need Sunday off. I have plans."

"Alright, no problem. See you there." Sasuke vanished with a smirk. Naruto walked up to me, slouching. I felt a little sorry for showing up my host. "Naruto, I'm sure you have more powerful jutsu. Besides, I'm looking forward to walking on water." He cheered up.

"Ah, it's not that great… hehe…" He kept walking, so I followed. We went to the ninja training field #1, the official area. Naruto grinned and we walked right out into it, dodging some flying Kunai. A group of ninja stopped training and came over. Naruto waved at all of them and introduced me. "Hey, this is the new ninja in town. She's gonna show you her abilities." He leaned towards me. "That is, if you don't mind." I grinned. My ninja abilities were at chunin level, at least equal to anyone training on the field now. I looked at a row of ninja, and started on the right.

"Hi, I'm Yasu; I've come here to train from the water villages. Please accept me humbly; I think I'll be working here a lot in the future." The ninja nodded acceptingly, and I felt a little better, so I became acquainted. The ninja were Hinata, Neji, Rock Lee, Choji, TenTen, Ino, Shikamaru, Kiba and his dog Akamaru. After I'd learned their names, I invited someone to a shurikan battle.

"Show us your skills first, there are targets over there." Kiba pointed at some dummies with circles on them. I took some shurikan and kunai, specially engraved with a small horse head to show they were mine, and threw them from where I was standing. They landed in rings around the targets, and I took out a couple more kunai and they landed on the targets; not necessarily in the center, but close enough to be impressive at this distance. Kiba let out a slow whistle, and they all sent out Neji. "Battle him with kunai."

"If I win, will you teach me your skills?" They nodded.

"If you lose, we'll… I don't know, what should we do?"

"Let's just see how she does against Neji." TenTen said, irritated that they were already trying to go against me. I walked to the open space in the middle of the field, and Neji did as well. TenTen stood in between us, three feet apart. "This will be a three minute battle, all fighting stops at the timer. Standby for assistance." She called to the audience-ninja. Half went to Neji's side, and Hinata, Kiba, Akamaru, Shikamaru, and Naruto stood behind me, fifty feet back. Naruto cheered (Come on Yasu! Go! Yeah! You can beat him!) and I laughed to myself, but felt a weird sort of joy. Neji and I stood with our hands at our sides, waiting for TenTen to call the start. She took out a pocket watch, and I felt the surge of anticipation of battle, the suspense. My blood coursed hot and smoothly, muscles ready to tighten at less than a moment's notice. TenTen waved an arm down, leapt out of the way, and clicked start in a swift movement, and Neji and I bounded back, pulling our kunai out of our weapon pouches.

I threw one to test his skills as he threw one, and we both dodged with speed. As I landed, more weapons were flying at me, and I continued to dodge. When I landed and no weapons flew, I made a hand sign and water came out of the ground, freezing around Neji's feet. I moved in with my Kunai, throwing some and holding on to others. Neji blocked the thrown ones and shoved my arm aside, pressing hard onto a point at the base of my arm. I felt the chakra stop flowing and I pulled back in alarm.

Naruto started shouting at Neji, I could see him out of the corner of my eye. I closed my eyes and sensed the chakra of Akira, and felt him neigh in alarm as he sensed my condition. I laughed it off and borrowed some of his chakra; he was certainly an unusual horse and I'd been lucky to find him. When I opened my eyes I felt the chakra flowing through my renewed arm. I'd watch out for his hands now. I vaguely noticed a few more ninja gathered around, making a clear boundary. Neji had broken the ice around his feet, and was charging, no doubt to use the chakra-stopping ability. I dodged by leaping into the air, but he turned with me, throwing a kunai. I spun, but it made a shallow cut on my side. When I landed, I didn't even examine it, and made another hand sign. Neji leapt clear of the ground, but this time I used the water in the air and froze his hands into fists. The chakra-stopping would be more difficult now, but I wasn't going to take any chances. I made a substitution out of a stick on the ground, unseen, and hid myself by transforming into a small rock, unnoticeable. Neji attacked my substitute, breaking the ice around his hands. My substitute looked surprised and done for, Neji hit many points this time, but my substitution disappeared then, and I appeared behind him, holding a Kunai at his throat when he spun. The timer went off to Neji also holding a kunai at my throat.

"Tie!" TenTen shouted, and a crowd of about thirty ninja began applauding. They slowly drifted off as Neji and I lowered our weapons. I walked over to those who stood behind me, and they welcomed me to their small group, Naruto included, by high-fiving me and patting me on the back. I grinned and took a small bow. Everyone laughed, and one by one they told me what they could teach me. Kiba and Akamaru came first.

"Hey, I could teach you to work with dogs; they come in handy in a lot of battles." I grinned, then Shikamaru cut in.

"I'll teach you some strategy." When I bowed thankfully, the boys left, satisfied. Hinata approached me.

"I'm not that great with weapons, but I know how Neji stopped your chakra. I could teach you the points." This sounded like the best training of all three, so I thanked her. Naruto waited for Hinata to resume training.

"Yasu, sounds like you'll be busy for the whole time you'll be here. Want to enjoy tonight?" He pulled out the paper money Kakashi had given him. I looked at the sun; it was setting.

"Sure, it does sound like it'll be the last time I'll relax in the next few weeks." I held out my hand, feeling very flirty, blushing madly. Naruto stopped still for a moment, then took my hand gracefully, also blushing up a storm. He led me to a small building with a great outdoor setup, and I felt it was protected by jutsu, because there was a breeze, but when Naruto led me onto the first step up to the seating area, it disappeared, although trees rustled around. There were only four other people there, all couples. As Naruto led me to a table (we'd avoided eye contact since he took my hand) a waitress appeared and set two menus out. By the table there was a cool little water fountain with a rounded heart-shaped stone. Water bubbled out of the middle of it and went around it in a nice even pattern. I poked at it while Naruto fidgeted and read his menu. As I glanced at him, I picked up my own menu and found the vegetarian menu, placing it facedown on the table as quickly as I could. I wanted meat after weeks of fruits and vegetables.

"Are you ready to order?" The waitress came by again, placing water on the table. Naruto glanced at me still flipping through the menu.

"Not yet, but can we order drinks now?" The waitress was very polite, even though I was pretty sure neither myself nor Naruto were really skilled in the 'fancy' crud.

"Yes, what will you have?" The waitress asked. I read her name tag. It said 'Ai'. I sighed. Fitting name for a place like this.

"Yasu?" Naruto volunteered me first, out of courtesy. I glanced at the drinks quickly.

"May I have the jasmine blossom tea, with a little wine in it?" The waitress said nothing, but wrote it down, turning to Naruto. He looked at me quizzically, probably about the wine. I'd figured out I could sleep better with a little wine… long story. Anyway, he turned to the waitress. She clicked the pen as if she were impatient, but I could tell otherwise; she was hinting to Naruto to be more… suave about bringing a girl here.

"I'll have the same." He said, and the waitress left. Naruto placed his elbows on the table, which I felt like doing but kept playing in the fountain, and he rested his head on his folded hands, facing me. "So, what do you do for fun?" He asked casually, and I thought for a bit.

"I draw, and I like running. How about you?"

"Nothing much, just training. Sometimes I'll go swimming." I brightened.

"There's a swimming area around here?" He also brightened.

"Yeah, quite a few. There are the hot springs, the waterfall base, and just about anywhere along the river, depending on how public you like to swim; it _does_ run through town." I sighed.

"I'll have to go shopping sometime because I don't have a swimsuit. Ah well." Naruto grinned, then we both looked at our menus again. I decided on a steak with sides of bacon and sausage, plus eggs. Once I'd memorized it, I looked across the table at Naruto. He had one hand on his cheek, and was looking towards the entrance. He started chuckling, and I followed his gaze. Three adult ninja came up the steps. I poked Naruto's arm.

"Acquaintances?" I asked as he lifted his head questioningly. He nodded.

"They are the other squads' trainers. That one, with the black hair and stuff, he's Gai. The girl is Kurenai, and the other one is Asuma. I wonder if they're coming out for a special reason." I watched them for a while; our table was in the corner, so we were unnoticed. They sat a couple tables from us, and Ai set our beverages down. They had cherries, so I ate mine. I told her what I wanted to eat, and when Naruto had ordered and Ai collected the menus, I asked for some paper and a pencil. She nodded, and went to the squad leaders' table, giving them our menus plus a third. She dropped off a pencil and two sheets of paper, and I started sketching. Naruto hardly looked up, he was still watching the teachers, so I sketched him pretty easily. I shoved the paper across the table, and he picked it up.

"Did you just do this?" He asked, and I nodded, blushing; I could tell he was impressed. I'd sorta drawn him how I saw him, not as he looked directly, and it was a rather glorifying picture. He passed it back. "Could you sign it? I want to hang it up in my room." I was easily flattered, so I signed the bottom corner. Naruto took it and carefully rolled it so it wouldn't be bent. "Pass me the pencil, I want to draw you."

I poked at the fountain some more, listening to the pencil scratch across the paper. Our food arrived, and Naruto put aside the sketch. We thanked Ai, and looked at the food hungrily. The other two couples had left, it was just us and the teachers, so we dug in. I didn't bother cutting the steak with anything but my teeth, and Naruto ate with just as much grace, except he didn't use his napkin so often. I felt like getting a spot on his nose for him, but it felt it would be like a movie. A cheesy movie. So I continued eating as much meat as I could.

Soon, my plate was clean and I was smiling just because that's how I felt. Naruto was doing the same thing, but I don't think he'd ever had wine before. I hadn't eaten so much in a very long time, since I was six, in fact. I know a small steak, two bacon strips, a sausage, and a scrambled egg aren't all that much, but I still felt guilty. Ai passed out the receipt.

"How much?" I asked. Naruto picked it up, and his eyes opened a little more. I fidgeted. "It's not over $50, is it?"

"No, but it's a lot for such a small meal. 4,200 yen. I'll leave it all, the extra as a tip." We stood, forgetting the squad leaders. As we looked around, Naruto spotted a fish tank and we went over to examine it. There were a lot of little fish in there, and a really big fish shaped like a knife that was two feet long. As we watched, he ate a couple little fish. We laughed (oh, how cruel, huh? You'd do the same, you know it. XD), and as we walked away our feet suddenly started clicking; it was a dance floor. The loud clicks alerted the teachers to our presence, and they looked over, smirking at Naruto, who had obviously never figured the situation could turn on him.

"Hey, that's Kakashi's old student, Naruto, isn't it?" Gai said loudly. Naruto cringed. "Yeah, Hey Naruto! Who're you with?" I followed Naruto's example. Asuma called us over, and we grudgingly approached. Naruto whispered to me.

"Well, you get to meet them, but now how I planned. It was supposed to be a lot less awkward." I giggled, causing teasing stares from the adults. Naruto noticed. "Hey, don't make fun of me, Kakashi told me to take our town's newest member on a tour around town! He even paid for it…She's not from around here, so yeah…" We were now standing as if on a shooting range before the adult table. Kurenai spoke for the first time.

"Go have fun, you guys, but keep out of trouble." She grinned, and we almost jogged out of there, listening to annoyed whines from the guys saying they weren't done messing with the young people yet.

The sun had gone down, and I had to be up and wide awake by sunrise, and a quarter-mile away, to start learning fire jutsu with Sasuke. He seemed like the kind to have a fan club. I didn't like that so much, but he _was_ good looking. With minimal talk, we arrived at my hotel. We stood awkwardly outside the front door for a few seconds, confused, then quickly hugged. I watched Naruto walk off down the street. He glanced back once, and I smiled, and his pace turned almost to a skip. In fact, after going a few more feet he leapt straight into the air, punching into the night and laughing. I chuckled and turned in. Hiroko had a small fire going as she sat in the chair that was obviously hers. I wondered if she ever slept.

"Have a nice date?" I blushed, about to protest, but wasn't really into it, so I shrugged.

"It was fun." She smiled and I walked back to my room, glancing at the nameplate on the way in. Akira had let himself in, and I walked outside with a couple of buckets. One I filled with water and set outside my room, the other I walked around the field with and cleaned up after Akira in the dark, which was rather easy because he had a restroom spot. When that was done I brushed him again, and went to bed.

**I am well aware that my Fanfic is mainly about a character not found in the series. I'm not asking you to like it or whatever, I posted it because I wanted to. To tell you the truth, I'm hardly expecting reviews. It's for my friends to read, and family. If they want to. that's all. I'll post this once more, to be sure it's seen, but yeah, chapter two complete!**


	3. Training Begins!

**Copyright 2007 by Ekonika (S.N.R.)**

**No part of this plot, my own characters, or text can be used without my permission. I do not own Naruto or any of its characters, but the plot and Yasu and Akira are my own and copyrighted. **

**©2007 Ekonika (S.N.R.) **

**Chapter 3: Learning**

The sun came up through the window. I yawned and stretched. I suddenly remembered something. _Aw crud._ I threw on some clothes and put a kiwi in my mouth, not bothering to wonder where it came from. I swung onto Akira and we galloped off the ninja academy doors. I jumped off Akira before he stopped and Sasuke looked at the sun.

"Ten minutes late, but that's alright. Let's get started." He began walking, so Akira and I followed. Sasuke explained the hand signs and we came to a barren area of the village, an empty market where a few early risers were preparing for their Sunday shops. Sasuke demonstrated the fireball jutsu here, and I watched, amazed, as he blew fire thirty feet into the air. A shop-keeper elbowed another and they pointed at Sasuke, also amazed. I figured I'd gotten a good trainer.

"Now, it's hard to get the fire to actually appear, because it takes a bit of chakra, and you need to focus. Try the hand signs, then build up some chakra." I practiced the hand signs until I could do them flawlessly (took about 10 minutes) then I built up chakra. I began to get the sort of blood-boiling feeling that came when I was about to fight, and Sasuke supervised, directing me to aim for along the dirt path.

"Fireball jutsu!" A flame about five inches long swirled out from my mouth. Sasuke chuckled, but it wasn't like he was making fun of me.

"Build up the chakra again, and remember I've done this many times before, so it does take practice. Try to feel the flame in your chest before letting it go, if that helps at all." I tried a few more times, and each time I got a three-foot long flame. I'd used about a quarter of my chakra. Sasuke sighed, smiling. He came over to me, placing his hands on my shoulders and pressing down firmly but gently.

"Relax, and build up chakra, without trying the jutsu." I took a deep breath, letting the chakra well up inside me. "Now do the hand signs." I did. "Feel the flame, then let it go." I took a deep breath.

"Fireball jutsu!" Akira snorted out ten-foot flames from each nostril, and Sasuke and I had to dodge. Akira reared, and Sasuke looked thoroughly surprised, and I was as well. I guess I hadn't built up my own chakra. Sasuke sighed. "Let's try this again." He glanced nervously at Akira. "Maybe he should go to where you can't see him. And where blowing fire is safe." Akira leapt to a rooftop by a surprised shop-keeper's cart, and I sensed him sit down. "Okay, try the same thing again, within _yourself_." I relaxed and built up my own chakra, sensing it as my own this time. When it was built up, it was nearly ten o'clock. I opened my eyes and made the hand signs, feeling fire in my chest, as Sasuke had said. I let the fire build until it felt like it would come out anyway.

"Fireball Jutsu!!!" A stream of flames shot out of my mouth, going about fifteen feet. I held it for a few seconds, then let it die. Sasuke grinned and some merchants applauded.

"All right, do it a couple more times, then I'll have to train myself." I built up the chakra again, paying special attention to whose chakra it was. After I'd made two more fifteen-foot streams of flame, holding the last one for five seconds, Sasuke patted my shoulder. "That was really good for the first lesson. Once you get used to fire, the other jutsu get easier. See you next Saturday, same time? Don't be late." I nodded. Sasuke departed, and Akira appeared at my side.

"He's a bit… cool, don't you think?" I stroked Akira's shoulder, then swung up onto his back. "We'll have to train daily to keep the weight off you. Let's get to the ninja training grounds." I leaned forward and Akira trotted off. We arrived at noon, and Akira looked out longingly over the field. I set him loose by dismounting, and we walked around the field to the dummies I'd thrown my kunai at yesterday. There was a box at the base of them, and I picked my weapons out of it.

"Want to train Akira?" A few heads had turned; not many ninja had seen a horse out on the field before. I saw Shikamaru lounging in a tree not far away. I paid little attention to any other ninja, and Akira positioned himself in front of the targets. I threw my kunai at him, and they would have been direct hits had we not trained on this before. Akira leapt into the air and disappeared, reappearing a second later twenty feet away from the starting point. I continued throwing weapons at him, and he caught a few, dodged the rest. The ones he caught he brought back. On our third round of weapons, I noticed a dull pain in my side. I looked down and saw the scratch where Neji had nicked me yesterday. It was only a red mark, almost gone, but still irritating.

Akira gathered my weapons and brought them over, dropping them at my feet. I carried 15 shurikan and 10 kunai with me, and Akira brought them all.

After I'd packed up, I decided to shop for some medicine for my cut. We stopped by the hotel and I brushed Akira to make up for missing it that morning. I remembered to put the 'out' sign on my door, and we left. I took Akira up and down the streets, asking for a medicinal herb shop, and soon found one. I noted the directions to it, but when I walked out I saw the ramen shop a few places down, so I just remembered that. I went back home, or so I called it now, and made a small salve that I applied and wrapped up the scratch with a once-around bandage. I stored the herbs I'd bought in the bottom drawer in the corner, and the gauze wrap next to it. I'd bought three fifty foot rolls. That should cover it. My first day of training had gone pretty well so far, but I wanted to practice the fireball jutsu some more. I took Akira to the wall around the village, and we followed it until I saw a small gate. Some ninja watched me leave.

I found a clearing about a mile out from the village and began working on the calmness needed for the jutsu. I also practiced sensing the difference between my chakra and Akira's. I admired my clearing: it had rocks, trees, grass, and about 200 square yards from the base of a cliff / hill. I chose a particularly large tree and drew some targets in it with my kunai. The targets were little 'x' marks, 5 inches wide. I built up my chakra at my feet to increase speed and ran at the cliff, holding shurikan. I ran up the cliff and spun around near the top, where I began charging. I felt so exhilarated from my first days that I felt like letting go. I tore down the cliff as fast as I could without tripping over my own feet and smashed into a smaller tree, which, to my pleasure, was uprooted and had a large impact mark from my foot. I stood it back up with help from Akira, and we headed back to the village.

On the way I passed a small stream, and marked my spot with an 'x' in the ground. I followed the stream and came upon a small river. I followed that too, and came to a nice area along the river bank. I heard someone speak nearby and ducked into the bushes nearby. Akira leapt into a tree's lower branches silently, then shrunk himself by his weird abilities.

"Did you hear something?" I looked around for the voice, being as silent as possible. A ninja stood on the opposite bank, behind some shrubs. Another was with him, and they wore headbands, but they were blank. The other was a female.

"No." However, they both paused a moment. I held my breathing slow. I'd sneak away as soon as I determined they weren't a threat. They looked like the bandits that had tried to steal Akira and my belongings. They resumed speaking and I began backing away silently.

"I can't believe we let the horse get away. Are you sure they came to this village? What if they took off through the forest?" –The male.

"I would have seen them leave the trail. I'm sure they are still in the village. We'll still get what we want." –Female.

"I guess you're right, we should get in the village somehow, though, so we can look for the horse there. We need to kill him as soon as possible. The only reason he got away last time was that girl. This time, she won't interfere. Not now when we have the hellhound. We'll just have to turn him loose, and he'll have that black stallion done away with, and maybe a few residents of the village." –Male.

"Yeah, the hellhound." She appeared to kick something, and I heard an awful snarl that made me shiver. "Good thing he's in that crate, he'd probably kill us all. Let's plan our disguises for infiltrating the village." With that they took off, carrying a thick wooden crate between them. I stood after a minute of silence and sighed.

"Why would they be after you, Akira? Are you so powerful? Cause I don't think you've ever breathed fire before today. If that is enough to scare you, then you can't have done anything worse." He jumped down, transforming to his regular size. We went back to town, and when the gatekeepers stopped me for ID, I told them to be on the lookout for a couple of blank-headband ninja, because I thought they were after my horse. They nodded, but didn't seem too concerned. People couldn't get in without giving valid ID. I went back to the training grounds and saw Shikamaru still sitting in the tree.

"Shikamaru! Could you teach me some strategy?" He looked down at me and my horse, and sort of fell out of the tree. He landed in a crouched position and I jogged up to him.

"Alright, but pay attention. I get bored easily, twice as easy if you're bored too." He began drawing in the dirt with Kunai and used sticks to demonstrate people's positions, all the while explaining the situation. "Solve the problem." He said, and I thought for a bit.

"If I were to move over here, then he couldn't throw any Kunai because he might hit his partner. His partner can't dodge because of the surroundings, so they'd charge and if I dodged right, they'd collide?" I asked, and Shikamaru nodded.

"Or, you could leap into the air straightaway, throw kunai, and they'd have to move around, easily causing them to spring the traps." I paid sharp attention and Shikamaru described situations until dark. I suggested many good plans of action, he said in the final review, but there were easier ways if you looked at it from other's point of view. I learned many good strategies, and when it was time to go, he smiled, which unnerved me for some reason. He seemed like he was too bored to smile at anything. "You know, you're not so boring."

"Umm... thanks?" I smiled and swung onto Akira, waving goodbye. Akira began cantering and took a leap onto a rooftop, blowing flames out his nose. I watched in amazement as the flames blew back, flicking at his sides and near my legs. They were definitely real; maybe there was more to Akira then I'd thought. That night after I'd brushed and cleaned and bathed, I forgot about the crate and mysterious ninja.

Sunday morning found me running around the village. I finished three laps by noon, Akira had been with me the whole way, and I went to the ninja training field. There I found Kiba, or he found me, because Akamaru leapt onto my shoulder good-naturedly as I looked around. I flipped Akamaru onto his back and rubbed his stomach. Kiba approached.

"Ready for some animal training?" He took me to a box and cut it open, simply saying, "Defend yourself and train this animal." The box opened and out stepped a wild wolf. It looked around at its surroundings and focused on me: Akamaru had taken Akira and they were watching from a safe spot. The wolf charged at me and I ducked at the last second and flung it into the air over my shoulder. It landed and spun back at me. This time when it charged I yelled.

"Stop!" The astonished wolf skidded to a confused stop. I walked up to it and reached out for its head. It snapped, predictably, but I moved around behind it, using its forward motion to shield myself. I placed my hand on its neck like a dominant wolf and forced it to the ground. The wolf flipped to its back in the surrender position and I slowly released it, snarling under my breath. Then I turned my back and faced Kiba in the branches. "Is this good enough?" The wolf slowly rose behind me, and I called it to my side. It gradually obeyed. Kiba leapt down and the wolf started charging. "No!" I said sharply, and it stopped. Kiba grinned, and I released the wolf. He ran off into the forest.

"So you know the ways of wolves. Good, that's the hardest to teach. Do you love animals?"

"Yeah, almost all of them. I just don't really like lampreys. Also, most types of sea-things. I like most fish, sharks, whales, and eels, though." He shivered.

"I don't really like anything besides mammals." My lesson continued as Kiba explained to me the dominance method of predatory mammals. On my way home, I ran into Hinata.

"Hey, Hinata." She looked around nervously until she spotted me coming up on Akira. Then she smiled. "You can pet Akira if you want." I recognized the longing look she had; it was the exact one I sometimes had for horses, but I always kept Akira with me. "In fact, where are you headed? Akira could take you there." She looked up at me and I swung off Akira's back.

"Are- are you sure?"

"Don't worry, he'll be great, all you have to do is lean forward to speed up, lean back to slow down, and look where you want to go. He can tell."

"But… how will you get home?"

"I'll walk. I can't ride him everywhere, I might meld to his back." We laughed a little. "When you arrive home, just tell him to go and he'll come find me."

"Are you really alright with me riding him?" Hinata looked so hopeful, but didn't seem to want to impose.

"Hmm… if you'll teach me some chakra-blocking pointers tomorrow, then it'll be fairer I suppose." Hinata smiled.

"All right, I'll teach you. Meet you at the training field at noon. Could you give me a leg up?" Akira was kind of tall, now that I thought about it. As I helped her up, I thought of something.

"You know, this is the first time anyone besides me will ride him. Not to make you nervous or anything, I'm sure he'll be fine." Hinata tangled her fingers into Akira's mane and was smiling from ear to ear. I couldn't help grinning back, and sent Akira off with a gentle nod. As he walked away, I told Hinata I'd meet her there tomorrow. She turned and waved, still smiling.

I walked to the hotel and climbed up a ladder on the side of the building to the roof. I watched the sun go down, and when it was about ten minutes from setting, I saw a silhouette a block down, out on a balcony, right in front of the sun. I squinted and my heart skipped a beat as I recognized Naruto. I almost called out to him, but held back. I was sort of a shy person. Okay, a lot of a shy person. As I watched, he took a deep breath and glanced over at the hotel's front door.

Is he looking for me? He's probably just looking around. I don't know… maybe I should say hi. As I thought, he looked at the roof and spotted me. He also squinted to verify my identity, and then promptly leapt off the balcony, waving. In a few seconds he was running at me across the rooftop.

"Hey Yasu, how has it been? I've been thinking about you a lot." He blushed. "Uh… not like that, Jiraiya's not rubbing off on me. But I was wondering how you were doing with your training, and did you like that kiwifruit yesterday morning?" I smiled. It was good to talk to him again.

"Thanks for the kiwi, I was out of food. My training's going well. I have friends here now, and I lent Akira to Hinata for her until she gets home. She really likes horses. Also, Sasuke taught me the fireball jutsu. You know what? The first time I tried it I got a little flame," I held my thumb and index finger about three inches apart and laughed –Naruto joined in- "and after that, with a little more practice, I did the fireball jutsu- but it came out of Akira's nose! You should have seen him panic; the flames were ten feet long." I took a break to laugh a little more. "I can do it alright now though, see?" I stepped back a little and focused my chakra. I felt the flame, then blew it into the sky for a few seconds.

"Wow, Yasu. What else have you learned?" I felt like continuing, but was really self conscious. I realized I was doing all the talking, and wanted to hear about Naruto.

"I've only learned some strategies, and I knocked down a tree outside the village. I've also been practicing with Akira, and today Kiba taught me how to tame animals. But what about you? I'm sure your training was much better, seeing as you have a legendary Sannin as a trainer." Naruto made a face, and I laughed.

"All Jiraiya teaches me is chakra control attacks, but he said he was going to teach me something awesome soon. Tomorrow, though, he said his schedule was too full for training. He's probably going to go do 'research' for his novels."

"He writes?"

"Yeah, but you wouldn't want to read it. They're perverted, for guys."

"Have _you_ ever read any?"

"No, I'm not a pervert like he is." He acted offended. I giggled a little, and when I stopped there was an awkward silence.

"So, um…"

"Hey, Yasu."

We spoke at the same time.

"You first." I said. He looked down.

"Do you want to come train with me tomorrow? I could teach you to walk on water." I looked at him, delighted.

"Yeah, I'd love to! But… I have to meet Hinata for training at noon. Could I meet you at sunrise?" He looked back at me.

"Yeah, I'll come wake you up. We have to keep more in touch. I know, we should go get some ramen sometime. What have you eaten recently anyway?" I thought for a bit, and realized I hadn't eaten anything since my small breakfast.

"Um… I had eggs for breakfast, and some salad." We were leaning on the small fence that circled the roof now, facing the sunset. He looked over at me. The bottom of the sun's orb touched the mountains. He opened his eyes and really _looked_ at me, I could feel it. So I looked back. We leaned towards each other slowly. A shout from somewhere in the town split the moment, and we looked over in alarm. We could see a chicken flutter up to a rooftop. It was just a crate of chickens, dropped and broken open. We returned to watching the sunset, sighing quietly.

"Come get some dinner. I'll pay." Naruto said when the sun was half gone.

"No, I'll pay for my own meal. It's ok. I'm going to start small missions on Wednesday. I'm only an academy student, technically. I'll have to pass with a squad then wait for the Chunin exams before I can do any better missions." Naruto watched me in what I felt was a little awe.

"Alright, come have dinner though. You'll work yourself too hard and collapse. You need food in your system." He moved towards me so our arms on the railing brushed against each other, and the slight friction felt like it was on fire. My head spun. I watched the sun go down.

"Let's go." Naruto smiled. "Where are you planning on eating?"

"Wherever we get to first. Do you like ramen a lot? I almost live off it." I laughed and looped my arm through Naruto's to keep from falling off the roof. He pulled me away from the edge easily, bringing our faces real close again. I looked away, heart pounding in my ears. This was more difficult than Ninja training. I climbed down the ladder and waited. Naruto winked at me, backed up, then took a running leap off the roof. I laughed again as he landed in the street, doing a roll. He stood and brushed off the dirt.

When we arrived at the ramen shop, the cook greeted Naruto familiarly and started making his ramen without waiting to hear what flavor.

"He knows teriyaki's my favorite. What do you want? There's pork, beef, chicken- comes in barbecue or teriyaki- and-"

"I'll have the same as you." The chef heard.

"Alright, two teriyakis, coming up." He turned to his work and we watched (mostly I watched) curiously. "So, Naruto. You've got a lady friend? I hope she can make ramen, if you two ever settle down." I blushed furiously and I saw the chef glance back over his shoulder at us. "Am I serving a couple of red beets or ninja?!" He laughed and Naruto and I glanced sideways at each other. Sure enough, we were both red. "Well, miss, I think you'd like to know Naruto's never brought a lady friend here before. You should feel privileged. This is like his temple." I recovered quickly from the embarrassment when my ramen was placed in front of me. So… he'd never had a girlfriend? Suited me. I'd never had a boyfriend either, so we were both kind of like Genin in this situation. Naruto recovered quickly also.

"You know, Yasu, I've never brought anyone to my room either. Kakashi got in once, but I didn't let him in." I shivered. If he was suggesting what I thought he was… I glanced over, ramen dripping out of my mouth. He looked pretty innocent. I came to the conclusion that he was naïve enough to say something like that without any negative implications. He continued. "I've brought people here, though. My room's a mess; I wouldn't hardly take _anyone_ there."

We finished eating in silence as the cook cleaned his materials. When he finished that, he leaned over to Naruto.

"You know kid; you're my number one customer. I'll make you a deal. Whenever you bring this girl, Yasu, was it? Well, when you bring her, I'll give you ramen half off. Hers included." Naruto slurped the rest of his ramen and smiled, wiping his mouth with a napkin. I put money on the counter for my bowl and Naruto put up his own money. The chef smiled. "Starting next time of course." He cleaned the counter and I stretched.

"Well, I should be getting to sleep; I'm going to learn to walk on water tomorrow."

"Okay. I'll take you home." I nodded, and all was as calm as could be. When we arrived outside the door flap, we exchanged a quick hug again before splitting up. "I'll wake you up tomorrow, so you won't be late. We have to get out early before Jiraiya."

"Alright, see you." We stood there a few more seconds, not wanting to leave. We looked up and smiled at each other again, for the last time that day.

"Goodnight."

"Goodnight."

We turned and left. Akira arrived a few minutes later, letting himself in again. I sighed and he placed his head on the bed, right under my hand, so I pet his forehead. "Goodnight, Akira." I gave him a quick hug before falling asleep, restless for morning.

I am well aware that my Fanfic is mainly about a character not found in the series. I'm not asking you to like it or whatever, I posted it because I wanted to. To tell you the truth, I'm hardly expecting reviews. It's for my friends to read, and family. If they want to. that's all. That's the last time I'll have this at the bottom.


	4. Akira

**Copyright 2007 by Ekonika (S.N.R.)**

**No part of this plot, my own characters, or text can be used without my permission. I do not own Naruto or any of its characters, but the plot and Yasu and Akira are my own and copyrighted. **

**©2007 Ekonika (S.N.R.) **

**Chapter 4: Akira**

"Yasu. Yasu!" My favorite sing-song voice sounded somewhere above my head. I opened my eyes to the bright blue ones of my best friend of the leaf village. "Yasu, your eyes are blue, like mine."

"Yeah, I know." I sat up and Naruto pulled away from standing over my bed. "What time is it?" It was still dark outside. I looked around and Akira had gone outside.

"Five. It took me forever to wake you up. Also, it took quite a bit to get in here past Hiroko. She was awful suspicious." I nodded.

"I wonder if she ever sleeps." I laughed, picking myself up. Naruto laughed and went to the dresser.

"I brushed Akira and set out some food for you. Eat breakfast quickly; I want to get to training." He sat on the corner of the bed as I picked out an outfit and slipped into the bathroom. There I brushed my hair and dressed, fixing any little imperfections in front of the mirror. When I stepped out Naruto looked up from his cute little crouch on the bed corner.

"Wow, in just a few minutes you're perfect." I blushed a little and began eating. It was bacon, sausage, and eggs, scrambled. There was a small vine of grapes. When I finished I was content.

"What did you have for breakfast?"

"Half of your food." I laughed a little and walked to the door, changing the sign to 'out'.

"Come on Akira, meet you round the front." Akira trotted away from the window.

We arrived at the water in the east end of the village, the base of the waterfall. I'd put my swimsuit on under my outfit, because I was pretty sure water wouldn't support me immediately. Naruto explained the technique and gave a demonstration. I watched in amazement as he walked over to the base of the waterfall and back, about twenty feet. He even sat and jogged.

"Alright," he returned to the bank where I waited, "gather your chakra in your feet." I did. "Then, you'll have to regulate it so the water will support you. Have you ever walked up a tree?"

"No."

"Maybe we should see how you do with that first." We approached a tree about thirty feet from the water. Naruto gathered his chakra and walked up the tree, his body horizontal to the ground. I gathered my chakra as well, but as soon as I placed my foot on the tree side it slipped. Akira came over and leaned against me for a second, and I felt green chakra swirl with my own. I tried again and made a few steps up the tree. This time, I stood parallel with the ground for a few seconds. I walked back down, feeling weird. Akira walked off to graze, leaving me with my teacher.

"Good job, but see if you can even get upside-down on that branch up there." I looked up at a thick branch forty feet at least from the ground. Why'd we have to have this big tree? I focused and made it halfway. My step slipped against the bark and the slip caused my chakra to start failing in the other foot and I began falling back to the earth. Naruto leapt off his branch and stood under me, both arms out to catch.

_**Thud.**_

I stood, a little shaken, but unharmed. I looked down at Naruto and helped him up. He was at least a bit bruised, I could tell. He stretched and pulled up short when he stretched to the right.

"Sorry, I should've landed better." He shrugged it off, but I insisted on seeing it. He pulled off his shirt and I poked at the muscle. He flinched when I poked a certain spot on his side under his arm. I massaged it a little and pulled away. He cautiously examined the area and stretched it fully, not even feeling any soreness.

"Thanks. Try and get up to that branch now, and don't get distracted halfway up. It'll get easier the more you practice." This time I focused entirely and made it to the base of the branch. I tentatively placed a foot on the underside and found it no different than walking up the trunk. I lifted one foot, then the other, and found I could easily stand on one foot by increasing the chakra to it. I walked around the branch some to slight applause from Naruto. I looked down from my crouch on the underside of the branch and pushed off.

I landed upright on the ground, forming my chakra into a landing pad. It made a three-foot crater in the dirt and I examined it cheerfully.

"Can I walk on the water now?" Naruto nodded.

"Yeah, same trick, focus and this time you'll have to adjust the chakra for the moving water." I took off the outer clothes so I was barefoot and in my swimsuit. I sent Akira back for a towel, and he left at a trot, but I heard him speed up as soon as he was out of sight. I tried to ignore Naruto's stare… I'd tried on the two-piece swimsuit in front of the mirror, and it did look pretty good.

I focused, which took longer than usual, and placed a foot out on the water. It sunk a couple inches… and stopped. It felt like I was on solid ground, but I could tell I wasn't. I picked up my other foot and put it on the water, and it sunk as well, but I was only up to my knees in four-foot deep water. I concentrated as I wobbled, but just then Akira returned and I lost control, dunking into the warm water.

I surfaced and shook the water out of my eyes. Akira dropped the towel on the riverbank and I wiped the water off my face. I heard a laugh, and Naruto was grinning.

"I did that about three hundred times on my first tries. Don't worry. I'm just laughing because it's nice to see I'm not the only one." I tried again and began sinking in further, so I focused as I sunk up to my waist. I picked up a foot and put it on the water's surface. It stayed, so I carefully lifted the other one. It slipped again. This went on for the next hour or so, until I had a wobbly stance on top of the water, with my feet only an inch under. Naruto spoke suddenly, causing me to lose the chakra again.

"Alright, that seems like enough control techniques today." I sighed as I swam to the side. "Where are you going? I didn't say we were done training." I looked up, hardly believing we weren't done yet. Naruto stood for a minute, then tore off his jacket he'd put back on and hopped out of his pants, and stood clad in swim trunks. I paused, wondering if there would be more training, or if he was really coming swimming. It was soon answered when he backed up and charged headlong into the water, cannonballing. The wave rolled by me and I tread water to stay up.

Naruto suddenly leapt out of the water and balanced on top of it, wobbling back and forth. He promptly fell in, and I splashed at him when he surfaced.

"So, Mr. Expert, how do you explain that?" He laughed and splashed water back. I noticed we were moving towards the deeper area, so I had to tread water.

"It was difficult to concentrate. Hey, come over here, I've got to tell you something." I swam the few feet so we were treading water and had to pay special attention to not kick or hit each other by accident. "I'm trying to make this look romantic, because my sensei's in that bush over there. Don't look now, but if you want have Akira go see. I'm pretty sure you can talk to him."

By now he was whispering. I closed my eyes and contacted Akira, and found out he was already watching the stranger. I looked through Akira's gaze and saw Jiraiya. I grinned and opened my eyes again. I was facing away from the bush he was hiding behind, but felt like teasing the old pervert.

"Okay, Naruto, let's mess with his head. Let's duck underwater and make clones, then we'll swim off downriver while our clones 'cuddle'." We both giggled and ducked under water. I watched Naruto do a shadow clone and I did a water clone. We took deep breaths through one of my jutsu that pulled air out of the water and watched from underwater as our clones surfaced and started flirting.

Water-me faced the same way as shadow-Naruto and cuddled into his embrace, still treading water. Shadow-Naruto kissed water-Yasu's neck, and water-Yasu giggled. I felt if I watched much more I'd get too embarrassed so I swam downstream with the real Naruto. We surfaced after we were significantly downstream and tracked around to behind the spy.

As we approached Jiraiya we could see 'ourselves' flirting, and from this angle it looked really… bad. We made our clones vanish an instant before shouting.

"Hello, Jiraiya!" He jumped at least three feet into the air, spinning around.

"Oh, hello, Naruto!" He tried to recover, but it didn't go so smoothly. We laughed until we were both tearing at the eyes, and Jiraiya got flustered.

"In case you're wondering, I was not spying. I was going to compliment Naruto on how well he was training you, Yasu." We looked around the group and Naruto and I tried not to laugh again. Jiraiya's face fell. "Uhh… how long were you… not you?" He referred to our clones.

"Since they ducked under water."

"Which time?" Uh-oh. What HAD our clones done?

"The very first time."

"Yeah, what exactly… _did_ our clones do?" It was Jiraiya's turn to laugh.

"You know, clones are exact replicas of yourselves, with all your feelings. Just thought you should know before I told you that they were making out." Naruto and I turned and coughed, facing away from each other and blushing furiously. Jiraiya looked at us, confused. "Oh, I guess I just let it slip, huh?"

"You pervy sage!" Naruto jumped at Jiraiya and caught the man off guard, sending him into the bush. He caught Naruto by the shoulders and stood himself up, pushing Naruto back.

"Naruto, shush. Something's not right." Naruto had only seen the toad mountain sage look this serious on rare, dangerous occasions, and I took the hint as well. We hastily pulled our clothes on and Akira met us, carrying my towel which I rung around my hair as we jogged towards town.

Just when we reached the main part of town, I recognized two ninja: the blank-headband squad. I quickly made a substitution and leapt off to the side, Naruto followed my example, and Jiraiya blended into the crowd. Akira also did a substitution and shrunk his real self down to pocket-size, so I picked him up and carried him in my hands until I remained safely crouched on the roof above where our group and the ninja would intersect. Naruto was across from me.

As Akira and my substitutions came even with the blank-headband ninja, they lunged, throwing a steel rope around 'Akira's' neck and punching my substitution from the back of the head into the ground. Naruto and I lunged from opposite sides of the street at that moment, right when the substitutions went up in a poof. Jiraiya stopped us and dragged us through the air by our ankles, and a few seconds later we were all outside the village a quarter-mile from where 'we' were ambushed. As I was dropped onto the ground with Naruto, I looked up at Jiraiya.

"Not a good idea to attack in the middle of town. Out here it's much safer. Set an ambush, they'll be here shortly."

"But-"

"I got you here so fast because I _am_ a Sannin. Get to work; they'll probably come through there." He pointed to a gap between two trees, then jumped into hiding. I realized Akira wasn't near me, so I tried to sense him. Naruto tapped my shoulder, though, so I set up a small trap by using chakra to dig a ditch a foot deep and three feet long, and filled it with water, sprinkling dirt over the top so it looked solid. Right past it Naruto set up a trip wire and made copies of a kunai and lodged them in the trap. We ducked into the same bush right off the side, but decided we should split up: easier to ambush and whatnot.

I sensed Akira and felt him moving toward here. I realized with horror, he'd been captured! I also realized Jiraiya knew and had planned we'd get Akira back here. Just how much he'd planned I didn't know.

_Akira!_ I called by our connection. I felt his panic ease, but not his reflexes; the headband ninja were dragging him here. I sent him a picture of the traps and told him exactly what they were, and through his alarm I felt the recognition. Soon I heard squeals and broke my connection with him. He was dragged into sight, and I nearly lunged at the kidnappers right there, but Jiraiya appeared at my side and tapped my shoulder, causing me to keep my feelings in check. He vanished as quickly as he appeared.

I focused on Akira and my senses raged: I heard the dripping of sweat from Akira's coat, and the labored breathing of the ninja, as well as the tiniest leaf movement from the breeze, but I couldn't hear or see my team. I knew exactly where Naruto was, and I also knew Jiraiya was definitely on my team. I leaned slightly forward, feeling the tension and trying to relax and think clearly. The lead ninja came close to the traps, but stepped back as Akira recognized the dirt and pulled away.

Suddenly, Akira lunged forward and the ninja were dragged along as Akira leapt the traps and got clear before the ninja tripped them. Akira was free as the headband ninja struggled to free themselves from the shallow pit and escape the hundred or so Kunai. I saw Naruto leap clear and did so myself then ran at Akira, hoping Naruto would hold off the ninja as I worked at undoing the steel ropes that cut into Akira's skin. They were around his neck, head, barrel, and legs, and all were tied together. Akira hadn't been injured like this in a long time, and I nearly panicked. I took a kunai and brought it down on the main cable. It did nothing but pull the ropes, causing Akira pain. I concentrated and did a slicing jutsu with water.

Akira's cords went slack to my relief, and he shook himself. They were still wound about him, but no longer digging in. I turned to see the ninja getting beat on by Naruto and grimly smiled. I vaguely wondered if Naruto had killed before as I ran in to assist him. The ninja leapt away with jutsu and I realized they weren't very injured at all. They glanced nervously at each other, then nodded silently and severely. One lifted a small box I recognized as a walkie-talkie.

"Backup. And take the weapon out." I shivered. These ninja seemed to be afraid of 'the weapon'. Naruto stood at my side and we bore kunai in our hands. The headband ninja turned and started running. I took off after them unhesitant, jumping and landing on the girl's back, shoving her into the dirt at about 20 miles per hour. Naruto came up on the side of the guy and tripped him, delivering a stunning kick to the back of his head as he fell. I took my kunai and held it at the girl's throat. She glared at me as I pinned her to the ground. I held her until Naruto came over and knocked her out as well. We carried both ninja back to where Akira was and tied them to a tree with Akira's ropes. As I pulled off the last steel cord and Naruto finished tying the ninja, a dull 'clunk' was heard of a shurikan smashing into a tree trunk.

Akira ran at me and I swung onto his back, lifting Naruto to sit behind me. We waited and watched patiently, realizing it had been Jiraiya warning us of the backup. Naruto hopped off and made shadow clones that hid in various parts of the forest. On Akira I manipulated his chakra and had him walk backwards up a tree trunk into the branches, and we held ourselves in place by chakra. The forest settled into silence again as we waited.

A third ninja was heard: the backup. Now we just had to figure out the weapon. I used Akira's chakra to keep his blood from dripping and giving away our position. The third ninja came into view and kicked a crate. I immediately recognized the hellhound and closed my eyes.

_Think… strategy… animals… fire? Chakra control… strength, chakra… Akira, hold up. We'd do best to take the ninja. How do we tell Naruto to go after the hellhound? The enemy ninja probably knows this area is being watched… he'll let out the hound and it will find us. We must move before it finds us. I will move… just gotta wait. I want to see the hound first. _

The box opened and out streaked brown fire. I stared as a skinny wolf-like creature stopped ten feet out from the crate and looked around, ears swiveling. I paid extra attention to holding Akira up. As the hound moved, I discovered it was only a regular dog, starved, and cursed with the desire to kill and power over its body that made it immune to flame attacks. I slowly pulled some chakra up to my chest, forming the right signs.

"Fireball jutsu!" Akira was ready this time, and I released his feet from the trunk. When we dropped on the ground I saw the ninja's eyes widen in fear. I figured I probably would too if faced with a black-as-night demonic horse blowing fifteen-foot flames out its nose that licked back along it's bleeding coat and past its rider, and that mass just dropped out of the sky.

The hellhound was not intimidated for its curse, but Naruto quickly punched it aside when it lunged for me atop Akira. As he and the hound moved around each other, both on all fours and snarling (I thought it was a little weird, but was seeing a little red: these people were after my best friend in the world, Akira) I faced the ninja. Akira snorted and smaller flames flicked out of his nose. The third ninja was a guy, and I signaled Akira to charge with the slightest shift. In battle, we spoke a different language that was completely our own, and extremely undetectable but effective.

I swung off Akira and planted a foot on the third ninja's chest. (We'll call him KareWa) KareWa slid back a few feet but remained on his feet and caught my leg, spinning it. I had no choice but to spin with it, and each time I came around I pressed off his chest unnaturally hard. Akira skidded to a halt right after I leapt off and bit hard into KareWa's shoulder. My sudden freedom let me send attacks at KareWa's face and they were all blocked. As Akira and I let loose a barrage of punches and kicks, KareWa dodged or blocked. I tried fakes and distracting him from Akira, but it was no good. He sent a punch back and I held up my hands to block. It was a square block, but it banged my wrists and hands.

I began to try kicking, but he hooked a leg behind mine and I was forced to start a retreat, now on the defensive. I kept blocking by crossing my forearms and dodging: Akira kept swinging and missing. I suddenly felt my back press to something.

"Naruto?" I was shoved against his back. His clones had been dissolved already.

"Trade?"

"Alright." We switched sides instantly and I began fighting the little hound turned to a demon. Akira assisted me, and after some time of dodging and striking, Akira landed a good blow on the poor animal's ribs. I could see nicks from Naruto's kunai, but I fought without weapons. The hellhound made a vicious lunge, maddened by its pain from Akira. I ducked and brought my hand up under the animal's neck, flipping it in mid-bound and landing it on its back. I really didn't want to kill the animal, but I knew it was irreversibly cursed. I reached back into my weapon pouch but remembered I hadn't packed it, so I reached for a nearby kunai from Naruto's trip-wire trap.

I took hold of it and painlessly made the killing cut, but had to hold the now fiercely struggling animal down as its life liquid drained from its neck. It slowly became harmless and I lifted my arm, covered up to my elbow in blood, and it was all over my shirt from lying across the top of the poor animal to keep it from getting away. Once I finished that cruel business, I joined Naruto by his side.

He had cuts, for KareWa had started using his kunai as well. I carried the one I found to kill the hellhound and darted in quickly, taking turns with Naruto. KareWa still held us at a stalemate, and I knew Akira was done fighting: he'd lain down by the dead hound, clearly resting. I developed a large amount of cuts on my forearms, shallow and deep, and remembered something: chakra. I changed my strategy and started diving for the spot on his shoulders that would stop his ability to move so quickly. I received a series of fine cuts on my torso. On a particularly daring jab, I felt the full pressure of misjudgment: KareWa sent a flying punch straight into the middle of my chest and I was hurtled backwards, feeling pain and tasting blood; my rib had splintered. I crouched, recovering swiftly, not from pain but from shock. I stood and charged, on what I said was my final try; I hit a chakra point on his arm, the same point Neji had hit on me. KareWa took his first step back, surprised, and in that moment of hesitation I hit the other point, figuring it would be symmetric. Naruto moved his Kunai to KareWa's throat and the fight was over: we tied him up with his comrades.

I slumped against the nearest tree's trunk, slowly examining the extent of my injuries. A rib was cracked but not out of place, so it would heal alright, chest severely bruised, but my heart was intact, and my forearms were nicked and scratched, as well as most of my torso. Naruto was pretty scratched up, but they were shallow. Jiraiya leapt from the canopy.

"All right, good job, you two. I'll interrogate these guys, and I want you two to pay attention. This will be a good lesson in info gathering." Naruto lifted me by my upper arms and I winced, but walked over to Jiraiya. He turned to the three captives, all awake now.

"What is your purpose?" The captives remained silent. "Alright. Secret fear jutsu!" Jiraiya closed his eyes and laughed, opening them a second later. "Now tell me or your worst fears will come to life in front of your very own eyes. I know _somebody_ doesn't like being humiliated, and you, miss, seem to be incredibly afraid of spiders." The two original ninja flinched, but still didn't speak. "Very well. We'll go the ringleader, who seems to have the whole idea. We'll save time." Jiraiya's voice was grave, but there was a hint of laughter in it. I watched curiously as Jiraiya bit his finger, coating his fingertips all in blood.

"Last chance. No? Well then, Summoning Jutsu!" I nearly laughed as a giant toad appeared and KareWa let out a small squeal.

"All right. I'll talk, just… make the toad go away."

"I think I'll keep my dear friend here, in case you feel uncooperative. Now, why were you after this stallion?"

"This black stallion is a legend among our people. He is said to possess powers not unlike the nine-tail fox when it has reached full maturity which takes about twenty to thirty years, and it possesses that power until its death. The past few were killed, and the one before that was raised by a ninja until one day it killed its master and began destroying our villages, making a five-year plague. We are going to kill this one before he possesses that kind of power."

"How does the legendary horse get that power?" KareWa glanced at the toad, taking a deep breath.

"He is brought up around ninja, taking some of their chakra, but not keeping it; he multiplies it and fosters it within his own body. Now he possesses all the chakra of the girl who raised him, by the time she's thirty he will have one hundred times the chakra of any Kage, and be equal to the nine-tail in ferocity."

"Has a stallion ever been brought up on the good side?"

"It may be possible, but there are very few people who could bring up a Kuroy Yoake. A Black Dawn. We came to kill this one. The chance of this particular stallion finding one who could raise him is so small that it is better not to take the chance." Jiraiya nodded.

"Go on. Why this particular stallion?"

"This one was an outcast in his herd, and if horses reject something, it is often for a great cause. They most likely fear him. His dam, when she kicked him out of the herd, nearly killed him. If this girl hadn't found him, he'd be food for some travelers or predators." KareWa's companions looked on anxiously, obviously nervous that he was disclosing so much information. Jiraiya seemed satisfied.

"All right, how long will this stallion live?"

"Until he is killed, or chooses to die. He will remain feeling, looking, and acting as if he were a ten year old horse, no matter how long he lives."

"What powers, besides the chakra multiplying, do Kuroy Yoakes possess?" KareWa hesitated.

"They can change size, anything from double their real size to only as big as an ant. Also, they're gifted in a special way, each time. This one seems to be skilled with flames, but they usually have a supernatural power, like changing the weather, or seeing the future, or flying. It seems that this one's power hasn't been discovered, but it's not going to be a good one."

"Okay, that's enough. Should I take you back to the village for further questioning, or release you? I don't think that's a very good choice: you don't seem like you'd let this pass." The ninja all of a sudden got very nervous. I could tell easily from my distance of fifteen feet, and Jiraiya was only five feet away from the leader. Speaking of him, KareWa glanced at his comrades.

"Self destruction jutsu!" They yelled in unison, and Jiraiya realized their plan just in time: he scooped up Naruto in one arm and me in the other as the three ninja exploded. The pain from being so suddenly moved made a few more drops of blood fly from my mouth and I let out a small cry. Their bodies and everything they carried (not to mention the tree) were in tiny pieces, scattered around a twenty foot radius.

"So, it was a suicide mission: succeed or die. He probably wanted us to kill the horse with that information. Well, Yasu, I won't kill your stallion, but I'll be watching very closely from now on. I'll have to go report this to the shenobi: they'll want to know, just in case. They'll probably let you stay for a while once I tell them you're just visiting. I'll carry you both to a hospital?" He asked us as we sat on the ground, still panting a little.

"No, I'm alright. I have to take care of Akira: those cuts will become infected unless I take him back home. He has to stretch his legs, and then I'll wrap his injuries." Jiraiya looked reluctant. I stood and jogged over to Akira, proving my strength, even though every time my foot fell hurt a lot. I was glad they couldn't see me wince. Naruto shrugged.

"I'll watch her; go deliver your report or whatever. I'll also clean up the dog here."

"I'll get him." I said, summoning the chakra for a fire jutsu already.

"No, allow me." Jiraiya lifted the body. "Do you guys want any of the skin or anything? We could use this, you know." I considered.

"No, I'm good."

"Me too."

"Suit yourselves" Jiraiya took off at a run, soon disappearing. I turned to Akira and Naruto examined the tree, which stood by only a little of its core, still intact. He shoved it, letting it fall away from Akira and me. I picked up Akira's head, carefully, to not disturb the lacerations, and Akira opened his eyes, sighing. He lifted himself and with a groan got to his feet.

"Naruto, could you go get a silk rope or something? Make sure it's nice and soft." He nodded and disappeared as well. "Akira, come on. Time to go. You need to get home, so you can heal. I'll wrap up your legs here, and then you'll get better, so let's move-" I coughed a little and my hand moved to my chest. It began hurting more: the shock was wearing off. I moved forward, leading Akira towards the village.

"All we have to do is make it back." Akira grunted and began walking as if he hadn't been cut in numerous areas, sometimes deeply. It hurt for me to keep up, so I walked very smoothly. Naruto arrived with a silken rope.

"I got that from Hiroko; she had it in her room." I looped it around the top of Akira's neck, being careful to not touch any cuts. We sort of lead each other back to the hotel with Naruto following along. Almost everyone who saw us looked at us in an odd way, but they were ignored. I wiped my sleeve across my mouth and saw the dried blood.

When we arrived at the hotel I took Akira around the back and tied him outside my room. I took out the bandage rolls and a sponge, and with Naruto's help, brought the water bucket over. I carefully wiped down all the injuries and wrapped them, using a lot of wrap. I eventually finished and Naruto refilled the water bucket with clean water. Akira drank out of it as I did, although I cupped it in my hands, noticing they had turned the blotchy purple of bruises. I lead Akira around the pasture once to let the bandages settle, then went inside to tend to my own wounds.

I washed carefully and slowly, and was surprised to find that even after my hour-long bath Naruto sat on the bed, tossing a ball up and catching it. I had to wrap up my rib, so I tried it, but it was no good. I kept getting it crooked in the back.

"Naruto."

"Hmm?"

"Could you help me wrap this? Just stand behind me and when I pass you the wrap pull it across and hand it back." He nodded and stood behind me while I started the bandage. I held my arms up, and Naruto practically did all the work. I was still in my bath-clothes (What do you wear in a bath? Nothing. But I had on shorts.) and would have been embarrassed, but I was too tired. The bandaging was finished, and it covered what a shirt would. I took what was left of the roll of wrap from Naruto and put it away: I'd be able to do it myself from now on because I healed quickly.

"How are your cuts, Naruto?" He shrugged and pulled off his shirt, using my mirror to look. He was covered in small scratches, nothing more.

"Guess I'm alright. I heal quickly. Are you going to go to bed now?"

"Yeah, I think I will." Alright, if you need me I'll be around."

"Hey, could you give a message to Hinata?"

"Yea, sure."

"Please tell her I won't be there to train today." Naruto nodded and walked out, closing the door behind him. I stared at the ceiling, unable to fall asleep, as it was only two in the afternoon. After a few minutes, my door swung open and Hinata herself came in.

"Yasu? Are you alright? Naruto told me about this morning. If you feel alright, I could still teach you some pressure points." I sat up and smiled.

"Thanks, Hinata. Sure, but I'll need to get some food and rest, so it'll have to be a short lesson, I think." Hinata took a roll out of her pocket and unwrapped it, handing it to me.

"Please, take this. It has some vitamins in it." I took a bite and felt a little better; it was after lunch, and I like my meals. She sat on the bed and began teaching, using my arms as the example, pressing gently on the points. I felt the potential, and realized I'd have to memorize the spots accurately.

After two hours, Hinata left, and I had a good idea of chakra points for the arms. I laid down and pretended to sleep until I finally fell asleep.

Well, I'm at chapter 4. I'm supposed to be doing math homework, but my darn priorities are crooked. And kind of backwards a little. Well, if you're going to review, no flames please. I don't want my virtual story to burn. I like it, a lot. Cause I wrote it how I wanted. For Me! -


	5. You're Invited!

**Copyright 2007 by Ekonika (S.N.R.)**

**No part of this plot, my own characters, or text can be used without my permission. I do not own Naruto or any of its characters, but the plot and Yasu and Akira are my own and copyrighted. **

**©2007 Ekonika (S.N.R.)**

The next couple of days passed uneventfully: Jiraiya came back with news that Akira could stay for however long he wished, but if anything –funny- happened he'd have to leave immediately, or even be put to death. I recovered, and my only reminder was the soreness in my side. Akira recovered as well after I was able to do some healing. I had learned pressure points on my own in my travels, not the same as chakra points, but they were good for some things, like healing. That's how I'd healed Naruto's sore muscle, a pressure point.

The third morning since the day of Akira's situation found me training again, leading Akira out to the training ground. Akira mostly grazed while I threw kunai at the targets. Hinata came over and began teaching me a few more chakra points. I paid close attention after the tide-changing influence in my last battle. When training was over, I caught Hinata.

"Hey, would you like to go do something Sunday? Like, take a day off and just go have a picnic?" I could see her consider.

"Alright, where should we meet?"

"Eleven a.m. at the base of the waterfall? Maybe we could go swimming or something."

"Sure. I'll see you in three days, then." There was still six more hours of daylight, so I went to find some more of the ninja who I considered friends. By the end of the day I'd invited Kiba, Akamaru, Hinata, Neji, Shikamaru, Ino, and another, who I'd been surprised to even see. The red-haired Gaara was out on the training field today, with an unnaturally large clearing around him that ninja avoided.

I approached Gaara as he was meditating or something, and when I was twenty steps away from him his eyes snapped open. A little of the sand around him swirled before settling again. I stopped about ten feet from him.

"Would you like to come to a picnic on Sunday? You don't have to bring anything, it's just a get-together and there will be swimming and lunch." I paused, and Gaara just watched me. "Please think about it? Get back to me sometime later today." He stared at me for a few more seconds, then spoke. In a scratchy deep voice, and I liked the sound of it.

"I'm not the outgoing type. Maybe. You'll be there, of course?"

"Yes."

"I'll consider." I began walking away, until the voice called out to me. "Hey."

"Yeah?"

"What's your name?" I was a little surprised, but remembered I'd never been properly introduced.

"I'm Yasu, and you are Gaara, right?" He nodded.

"Why are you in the village? I haven't seen you around much, until a few days ago, when you were hurt. You are better now." He said the last like a statement.

"I'm in the leaf village to train and become a better ninja. What are you doing here?" Now I was turned towards him, sitting on the ground five feet away. He looked at the ground a little to the side. He lifted his hand and gestured for me to come closer. I scooted over until he reached out and his hand touched my shoulder. The world seemed to freeze: not only did the closest ninja stop their training and stare, but I suddenly saw exactly how much my life affected everyone in the village. Not everyone specifically, but almost as if there was a bar and it showed just how much I affected people. It was three-quarters of the way full, and the sensation slowly dwindled.

When my vision cleared I saw Gaara touching my arm still. His hand was cool, so I took it.

"You're cold, Gaara."

"Yes." He confused me, but I felt a twinge of empathy and immediately liked him. I wanted to spend more time with him because he seemed lonely, like he was calling for help. He dropped his hand and it slid out of mine, his gaze returning to the floor. I became aware of the ninja around me slowly gossiping and returning to their training.

"Please come tomorrow?" I asked for the last time.

"Alright, but I won't stay very long." I smiled and stood, walking away, feeling his cold gaze following me. Akira met me after Gaara was out of sight.

"Well, tomorrow I have training with Sasuke, then on Sunday we'll take the day off with everyone. Let's get to bed at sunset so we'll definitely be on time." Akira nodded his head, making his mane bob up and down. I smoothed it out and headed towards the ramen shop.

I pushed aside the flaps that hung down and stepped up to a stool. I sat right next to Sakura who happened to be there.

"Hey, Yasu, right? It's funny; I haven't seen you at all except for the only two times I stopped in for ramen." I smiled.

"Sakura, want to come to a picnic Sunday at the base of the waterfall? I've invited some others, and there'll be swimming and food, and maybe some games. You don't need to bring anything but a swimsuit and towel. Teriyaki please." The chef began making my noodles.

"Sure, I'll see you there. What time?"

"I'll be there from two hours after sunrise to nightfall, but I told everyone to show up around 11."

"Alright, I'll see you there." I got my ramen. "Hey, Yasu, what do you think of Naruto? Is there anyone you kind of have a crush on?" I giggled, and she elbowed me playfully.

"Well…" I began.

"Yeah?" We both giggled a little more.

"I sort of like Kiba, Akamaru's cute, but the one I really have a crush on is Naruto." Sakura laughed, and I blushed. "He's not that bad, is he?"

"No, but I've known him a while, and he's not really matured at all. Maybe you'll help him. Is there… anyone else?" I could tell. She was completely jealous… of what guy's attention?

"I can't think of anyone else. Who do you like?" She mumbled something inaudibly.

"What?"

"Sasuke." She said louder.

"Don't worry; I don't like him, although he is good looking." I could feel the tension lift as she sighed, and I patted her on the shoulder. "You really like him, huh? I'll invite him to the picnic tomorrow, and maybe you could hang out." Sakura blushed, and I grinned.

"Are you sure it won't be a problem?"

"Yeah. Don't worry; I have training with him tomorrow morning anyway." Sakura smiled and we continued chatting about random things, like how I was adjusting to the village and popular areas for dining, hanging out, and whatever else. We finished eating around the same time, and I walked with Sakura back to my hotel: it was on her way home.

"See you on Sunday, then?"

"Yeah! Bye Sakura!"

"Later Yasu!" We waved goodbye and I didn't feel like going inside yet, so I sat out front of the hotel. Akira had already gone into the pasture and was eating. I sighed and leaned against the wall. The sun was still about thirty minutes from setting, and I didn't want to go to sleep yet. As I leaned against the front door, Hiroko came out.

"Something wrong Yasu?" She asked as she swept off the front doorstep.

"Not really. I just… am glad I could come here to train. There are many good people here, but I don't feel like I have any really good friends."

"Well, you're having that get-together on Sunday, aren't you? That ought to make you some good friends."

"I don't know…it just feels so… I feel like I don't really belong yet. I mean, they've all grown up together, and I just arrived. They won't accept me unless I stay forever."

"I think a really good way to show you're worthy of friendship is standing alongside someone in a fight or mission." She finished sweeping. "Come on inside, I made some hot water, and there are herbs in the cabinets. You look like you could use some calming tea." I sighed and walked in the front door.

"SURPRISE!!!" There was a small banner and three people gathered around in the 'living room', Naruto, Kiyoko, and Takumi. I smiled at all of them as Hiroko joined the lineup.

"What's the occasion?"

"Your second-week anniversary of staying in the leaf village." Naruto explained.

"I never got anything like this," Takumi said, "But Hiroko was the only one here when I moved in. You're lucky to have such a good friend as Naruto, Yasu." I walked over to a little table with a small cake on it and cut it up into five equal-sized pieces, passing everyone theirs first. Naruto began eating but stopped as no one else ate, waiting for me to take the first bite. I did, then they all ate. It was a good cake, chocolate frosting and butter-yellow cake. When it was finished Hiroko served some milk in large glasses and we all departed.

"Thanks everyone! Goodnight, I'll see you in the morning." They all responded similarly and I went off to my room, thinking hard for the first time.

Everyone here is so kind, and I know they'd all help me out in a tight situation, but that's depending on how 'tight' the situation is… they're not exactly friends for life. For some reason, I feel like I need to make a bigger impression… maybe it was Gaara… that meeting was definitely odd. Well, tomorrow is my fire training, then Sunday is the big party, where I'm sure things would definitely improve.

Hello. The next chapter is short, but important to the story. Have fun. Watch movies, especially 'Dead Poet's Society'. It's good. And sad. And… I'll let you find out. Eat pie, too.


	6. Fireball Jutsu

**Copyright 2007 by Ekonika (S.N.R.)**

**No part of this plot, my own characters, or text can be used without my permission. I do not own Naruto or any of its characters, but the plot and Yasu and Akira are my own and copyrighted. **

**©2007 Ekonika (S.N.R.)**

I met Sasuke at the ninja academy ten minutes before sunrise, and he nodded approvingly.

"Today we'll practice the fireball jutsu some more, trying to make it look more like a fireball instead of a stream of flames." We went to the same place again, and this time there were a few more shop owners, and they all glanced over when we arrived, grinning amongst each other. This time when Sasuke showed me the technique, it did indeed look like a fireball. "Now, start with your flame jutsu, the one last week. Have Akira leave, unless you think that incident won't repeat."

"I practiced, and I'm pretty sure it won't." I gathered the chakra, once again feeling the rush of flames in my chest. I let the flames go and they shot into the air to muffled jittering of wonder by the 'audience'.

"Good, now try and shape it in your chest, like a fireball. It'll take a lot of practice, so don't worry if you don't get it. Controlling chakra from inside your body and keeping it controlled outside is very difficult. Try shaping an orb of chakra now." I concentrated on only making a chakra orb, then filled it with fire. When I let the fire go, though, it came out as always. Then next time I formed the chakra sphere outside my body and blew the fire into it, where it swirled and collided with itself three inches from my face. I jumped back and pulled the chakra sphere away, and the flames dissolved.

"Try to make the chakra move with the flames, then our next lesson will be turning the flames in midair if you can manage this one." He sat at one of the shops on the counter and the owner hadn't shown up yet. I concentrated and practiced moving the chakra sphere away from me, keeping it barely visible. When I moved it out thirty feet I tried it with fire.

This time, an hour later, I blew the flames into the chakra as I moved it away quickly, and the chakra shield just held the back half of the fireball pushing it forward. It dissolved thirty feet away, and I figured it would have looked very intimidating to someone in the line of fire. Sasuke finished the lesson there.

"Sasuke, I'm having a get-together tomorrow at the waterfall, want to come? Free food and there'll be swimming and competition games and whatever else anyone can think of. Please come?" I made my best puppy-eyes face and Sasuke looked at me, like really considered. He suddenly began to flush, and I gazed at him questioningly. "What is it?"

"Nothing. I'll see you there tomorrow, what time?"

"Most people will show up around 11. It ends when everybody goes home. See you there, for sure?"

"Yeah. Keep practicing; it'll become much easier to make the fire into a sphere. See you." He gave me a quick nod and walked away. I admired him, and saw what Sakura liked about him, but he just wasn't my type, I suppose. He was good looking, smart, cool, kind, and a great teacher, but I just didn't seem to fall for him. I shrugged and went to go find Naruto to see if I could train with him.

I arrived outside Naruto's apartment and entered the front door. There was a man sitting behind a counter.

"Is Naruto in?" He licked his finger and turned the page of the book he was reading, then looked up.

"Nope. Went out to train."

"Do you have any idea where he went?"

"Somewhere along the river."

"Thank you sir." He'd returned to his book and grunted. I left after a small bow, and went upriver riding Akira. I came to the hot springs section and saw Naruto standing away from a building with his arms folded. It was near where Id trained with him, and I looked around for Jiraiya, spotting him by a doorway. I sighed and nudged Akira forward.

"Hey guys." Jiraiya froze and Naruto glanced over, brightening.

"Hey Yasu! I'm going on a training expedition for a few days with Master; I'll be back Monday night. I'm glad you came by, I wanted to say goodbye." I noticed he was wearing a pack.

"Where are you going?"

"About forty miles out, I think. Nowhere in particular, just survival skills." He came over to Akira and me and started petting Akira, whispering to him something I couldn't hear. Akira's ears flew forward and he nickered. Jiraiya came over acting pretty indifferent.

"Yasu! We were just on our way out of the village. Take care of yourself, okay?" He put his hand on my head, stretching because I was still on Akira, and rubbed back and forth. For some reason the gesture touched me, when it would've ordinarily been irritating. Maybe it was the kindness in it. He looked at me right before he pulled away his hand, walking by. I think he was testing me with that affectionate thing… either way, I was taken aback for a moment and felt an extreme and sudden liking for the old man. I looked back at him and he grinned, waving goodbye. Naruto jogged to my side from Akira's head.

"Take care, Yasu. See you."

"Bye Naruto." Well, he wasn't going to be here tomorrow. I sighed as I watched him follow Jiraiya down the path. I slid off Akira and decided to practice walking on water again. The sunset found me balancing delicately on the water's surface, and soaked through because my thoughts kept wandering and I couldn't focus enough to stay on top. That night I skipped dinner and just retired to bed, planning the next day.

Told you it was short. Well, pay attention: Naruto's coming back Monday NIGHT. Okay. See you next chapter! BTW, I'll skip to 11 a.m. next chapter.


	7. Drafted

**Copyright 2007 by Ekonika (S.N.R.)**

**No part of this plot, my own characters, or text can be used without my permission. I do not own Naruto or any of its characters, but the plot and Yasu and Akira are my own and copyrighted. **

**©2007 Ekonika (S.N.R.)**

At 11: AM the third guest showed up. Sakura and Shikamaru had arrived early: Sakura to help set up, and Shikamaru because he had nothing else to do, but he helped anyway. We had all sorts of snacks and a towel rack, plus a wooden piñata shaped like a shuriken that was round in the middle and stuffed with something for a game. It looked like a picnic, definitely. Kiba arrived with Akamaru right on time, and Ino showed up a few minutes later. Hinata arrived at noon, and by then everyone was swimming.

When Sasuke arrived, I noticed a change in Sakura and Ino, and they both glared at each other.

"How about some competition games?" Sakura and Ino became determined and leapt out of the water, preparing for a shuriken battle or something. "I meant like water-chicken or something." They ran back in the water and looked towards Sasuke, about to ask him on their own team. "I MAKE TEAMS!" I shouted over the splashing and scurrying rivals. They paused and looked at me.

"Okay, Hinata with Shikamaru, Ino with Kiba, Sakura with Sasuke, and I'll go with…" I stopped, realizing I'd run out of guys. Just then, Gaara showed up. "I'll go with Gaara!" He froze and stared at me in horror, as did everyone else.

"No." He said simply.

"Just one round?"

"No."

"Alright, then first it'll be Ino vs. Hinata, then whatever guy would like to do another round with me will go against Sakura, then the winners will face off." Everyone nodded, a little unnerved by Gaara still. While Ino, Kiba, Shikamaru, and Hinata prepared for the first round, Sakura sat by Sasuke and I approached Gaara.

"Gaara, thanks for coming!" I smiled and Gaara shrugged.

"I'm only here for a few minutes, so I guess I'll stick around to watch your round. I can't stay for long." I sighed.

"Alright, but I think you'll change your mind." I really didn't expect him to, and I think he knew that too. I walked back to the shore, then walked out into the water, where Kiba and Shikamaru were up to their waists and Ino and Hinata were on their shoulders. They watched as I stepped out onto the water, and the stares made me lose concentration until I sunk. "Okay, first one to fall is disqualified, and… GO!" I ran away and sat next to Gaara on a rock.

Shikamaru and Kiba approached each other and Hinata and Ino began shoving each other. After a few minutes of edge-of-your-seat action (you know how it is) Hinata tumbled into the water with a death grip on Shikamaru's neck. They surfaced laughing, and Kiba dropped Ino as she laughed triumphantly, causing a second round of laughter, even a slight grin from Gaara. Kiba approached me and picked up my hand.

"May I have this game?" He kissed the back of my hand and I giggled, thinking it fun just to be flattered like this. Ino splashed Kiba, getting me wet, and Sakura leapt into the water after Sasuke. Kiba easily lifted me onto his shoulders and Sasuke did the same for Sakura. In a few seconds we were warmed up. Sasuke and Sakura grinned determinedly, and Gaara actually called the start.

"Same rules, first one down is out. Ready… Go." Sasuke was more daring than the other guys and charged straight at Kiba through the water, getting right in his face as I met Sakura above them. We began shoving, laughing the whole time. I tried twisting Sakura to the side but Sasuke always moved under her. She tried the same thing, and on the fifth try Kiba wasn't able to keep up, and I landed on the water's surface on my side. I surfaced to a few claps and Kiba let me go. Sasuke kept Sakura on his shoulders and did a victory circle, ending with a combined 'V for victory' sign with Sakura. He set her down laughing, and I caught her eye and winked. She grinned back before returning her attention to Sasuke.

I went over to Gaara again. I wanted him to feel included.

"Do you have to leave so soon?" He looked at me again.

"Yes. That was an interesting game. I've never seen it played before."

"Well, you could play next time or something. At least have a little snack." I walked with him to the small food table and we each took an onigiri apiece. I munched happily until they called me back for the final match, and I said bye to Gaara. He finished his rice and made a slight bow before disappearing in a whirlwind of sand.

"Alright, I'm going with Shikamaru this time, I don't want Kiba to dump me off again." Ino said, and Shikamaru waded into the water, smirking. I called the match start and five minutes later the boys were standing still as Sakura and Ino battled it out on their shoulders. Shikamaru and Sasuke stood for another minute of perfect-match stale-mate then shrugged and fell over backwards at the same time.

Sasuke stopped right before he hit the water and stood back up as Shikamaru went under.

"Sasuke and Sakura win!" I declared as Ino and Shikamaru dried off. Sasuke let Sakura down and they high-fived each other. After that we all took a break to eat, and around one o'clock we began the piñata.

"Alright, this piñata is two games in one. First we have to break it blindfolded, then we have to collect as many of the things inside as we can, and there are fifty total. Sasuke, you move the piñata, because I think you'll break it straightaway. The lineup is Ino, then Sakura, then me, then Shikamaru, then Kiba, ok?" Everyone agreed and I handed Sasuke the piñata rope.

"I'll pass; I'm gonna go get some food." –Hinata

"Yasu, I have to leave after this." –Sasuke said so only I could hear.

"Really?" I was a little sad.

"Yeah, and also, training next weekend will have to be moved to a later date. Omph! What was that for?" I'd elbowed him in the rib.

"Don't use the word date," I whispered, "there's a couple girls here who'd get very jealous." He looked at the waiting group and noticed Sakura and Ino craning their heads to try and read our lips. "Alright, see you in two weeks, then. And whenever around town."

"Yeah."

"Alright, make the piñata tricky, too. Unless you feel like going easy on someone." He tried to ask me what I meant by that but I walked away, passing Ino the bat.

"Piñata!" Ino put on the blindfold and started her three swings, denting the shuriken. Sakura went next, and the piñata seemed to not move as trickily. She hit it each time, also denting it. I swung and missed twice, but on the third try I heard a board splinter. (Yeah, you betcha it was wooden! Where's the fun in cardboard and papier mache?) Shikamaru stepped up next and a few more boards splintered when he hit it twice. Kiba stepped up and after his turn (I could tell he held back) the piñata was splintered and just needed the final push. I took the rope from Sasuke and he stepped up, not blindfolded because he was the last one. He took the great swing and out of the piñata burst fifty little bells, shiny silver and charmed by a jutsu to bounce, and bounce they did, in fifty different directions.

Sasuke immediately took to the new game, and the others were just a few seconds behind. Five minutes later, we all held our hauls around the table.

"Is that all of them?"-Shikamaru

"I think so."-Hinata

"Wait."

"Shush, I think I hear something."-Kiba

A bell was bouncing in circles, jingling. Kiba sent Akamaru after it as I sent Akira and they raced to it, Akira beating Akamaru.

"Alright, let's count." I said as Akira dropped the bell into my hand. The total was no surprise, Sasuke with 17, Ino and Sakura with 6 each, Kiba, Shikamaru, and myself with seven each. (Yeah, it adds up to fifty). "Sasuke, you win a new kunai." I took out a small wooden case that held a kunai. It looked pretty regular, but it was a special adapted version, better for fire stuff. "See you, Sasuke!" He waved goodbye and Sakura and Ino realized he was leaving.

"Don't go Sasuke, it's only 1:30. There's a lot more time!" –Ino

"Sorry, I've got to go take care of some business."

"Alright, see you around, Sasuke." –Sakura. I personally began to like Sakura more than Ino. She wasn't so possessive. I grabbed another onigiri and put all the bells in a bowl, picking up the disheveled shuriken piñata. We played in the water until 5 PM, when Asuma and Iruka walked by.

"Guys, you're going on a C-slash-D rank mission. It starts tomorrow, and you'll be gone about a week. You're accompanying a traveling caravan to the village in the land of waves. All you have to do is get the caravan safely over the Great Naruto Bridge, and you can come back." Asuma said.

"That's right, tomorrow, mark that, at ten in the morning. You need to meet at the village gates. Yes, you too, Yasu. Your water ninja skills should come in handy, especially since you've been on the road for a while. You have good traveling skills. You've all been volunteered, so no complaints. Besides, you all haven't done any missions recently, now have you?" The teachers walked away, then Asuma paused.

"Your names have already been written down for it, so don't think about getting out of this one." Everyone sighed and got out of the water, going to dry off.

"Thanks, Yasu, it was fun." –Ino

"Thanks for inviting Sasuke." Sakura winked and left grinning. Kiba came next and made a slight bow.

"Thank you very much, it was fun."

"No problem." Shikamaru walked up and took a hand from his pocket, taking my own hand and kissing it.

"I'll see you for the mission tomorrow."

"Yes." I didn't know what exactly to make of Kiba and Shikamaru, but I figured it wasn't worth worrying over. When everyone was gone I packed up and loaded the little bit of leftover trash onto Akira, and we disposed of it on our way to the hotel. I packed before sundown and ate a good dinner, taking extra care in brushing Akira that night. It was my first mission, and I wanted to make a good impression.

By sundown my bag was all but packed and Akira was well fed and sparkling clean, and we were both fast asleep. I dreamed of Naruto, and Gaara and Shikamaru and Kiba.

They all swam around in my head until I felt an incredible loneliness by the time I woke up, and realized I wouldn't be able to see Naruto for at least a week because he was getting back tonight and I was leaving before that. I re-brushed Akira and packed the last of my bag, slinging it over his back. I'd taken off my headband to clean it and I studied the leaf symbol, realizing it was my closest connection to Naruto. I brushed my finger across it lightly and tied it around my head, pulling it tight.

The last paragraph is the first paragraph in the next chapter. You know, sometimes, don't you just feel like hugging someone in the Naruto character lineup? Or slapping them? Just asking. Like in the waterfall special, when Sasuke walked on water. It's like… what the… when did that happen?! Outrage! Ya know? Oh, and i have to write!!! I only have chaper 8 done still I'm Halfway through 9... I think. Whatever.


	8. On the Road

**Copyright 2007 by Ekonika (S.N.R.)**

**No part of this plot, my own characters, or text can be used without my permission. I do not own Naruto or any of its characters, but the plot and Yasu and Akira are my own and copyrighted. **

**©2007 Ekonika (S.N.R.)**

By sundown my bag was all but packed and Akira was well fed and sparkling clean, and we were both fast asleep. I dreamed of Naruto, and Gaara and Shikamaru and Kiba.

They all swam around in my head until I felt an incredible loneliness by the time I woke up, and realized I wouldn't be able to see Naruto for at least a week because he was getting back tonight and I was leaving before that. I re-brushed Akira and packed the last of my bag, slinging it over his back. I'd taken off my headband to clean it and I studied the leaf symbol, realizing it was my closest connection to Naruto. I brushed my finger across it lightly and tied it around my head, pulling it tight.

I sent Akira out the back door, feeling the excitement of my first ninja mission ever. The loneliness followed me still, though. I stepped out into the lobby and found it empty… at least that's what I thought, until a figure moved out of a shadow, panting. Naruto stood before me, and I had to resist hugging him then and there.

"You're back early! How was your mission?"

"I heard you were leaving last night, and Jiraiya cut short the mission. I ran back here to say goodbye and good luck."

"But weren't you forty miles away?"

"Yeah." He grinned triumphantly and my admiration showed clearly on my face.

"Thank you for coming all this way. I'm off soon, leaving at ten. Sorry you can't come."

"Don't worry; I'll be training with Pervy Sage. You better come back stronger than you are now, I'd like to see that."

"I will, definitely. I'll keep up my training." We stopped talking and just stared at each other. My loneliness was extinguished. He'd come forty miles to see me off on a mission. "Will you see me off at the gate?"

"Can't, sorry. I, uh… didn't really get the time off from Jiraiya, I'll have to make it back by noon. I left before he woke up. I'll be in a bit of trouble unless I can come up with an excuse for being missing for six hours." I grinned, and Naruto took a deep breath. He walked towards me and placed his hand on my cheek, really softly. My heart started thudding louder that I wanted it to as I looked into his eyes, then he bent down a little really quick and his lips touched my cheek.

"Take care of yourself Yasu." He backed up quickly, and I wondered if he was ashamed.

"Alright, you get stronger too, ok?" I said lightly, my head in the clouds.

"I will, believe it!" That was the first time I'd hear him say that, and there'd be many more times that I didn't know yet. We smiled at each other and walked out together, blushing. Akira waited for me and I mounted.

"Bye."

"See you." We left in our separate directions. I arrived at the gate with my head spinning so badly that it took me a few minutes to realize I was being spoken to.

"Yasu! You'd better concentrate more than this when you're out on the road!" Iruka yelled from Akira's shoulder. I jumped and blushed.

"Sorry, Iruka-sensei, I was thinking about certain matters. It won't occupy my time while I'm on the road." Iruka nodded.

"It had better not. Now, everyone, time for you to meet the people you'll be guarding. They can fight for themselves a little, but the full responsibility for their welfare will be on you." All the ninja on the mission were gathered: Me and Akira, Shikamaru, Sakura, Hinata, Kiba and Akamaru, and Ino. (I will call this group 'Group' with a capital 'G' so you know who's in it, because I don't like typing all those names out. What can I say, I'm lazy. P) Iruka gave us a short briefing, and Sakura was going to direct us because she had been to the Village in the Waves. When this was done, the caravan came up to the gate from inside the village. There were 18 people and two horses, plus a wagon. Iruka lined up the Group and directed the people in the caravan to choose a protector, three people to one of us.

A young girl, about eight, came to me probably because of Akira. I also got a twenty-year-old-ish couple and I sighed silently. I hoped they wouldn't be making out or whatever.

"Alright! Now that you've all settled, know each other well because you'll be traveling together for the next four days. We'll- sorry, _**you**__'ll_be starting out in ten minutes, so get everything in order."

"Hi, my name's Izumi." The little girl said. I started to reply when she stopped me. "Can I pet your horse?" I suddenly felt a sibling rivalry thing, and became very protective of Akira.

"Umm… I guess, but he might bite." Izumi pet Akira's head, but I kept composed. Best not to mess it up this early. I took a deep breath and buried my irrational dislike. "My name's Yasu, and this is Akira, my stallion. We'll be protecting you on your journey. I'd appreciate it if you'd heed my warnings, and please be quick about getting in a tight group when I give the order." They all looked at me critically, and I wondered if they believed they even needed me. "I'm not kidding. There are bandits on the road."

"What are your qualifications?" –The man.

"I've traveled on my own for a while, and fought off as many as three bandits with only Akira when I was as young as eleven." The couple looked accepting, and Izumi just kept petting Akira. I childishly told Akira to get up on his back legs and make a small leap to keep Izumi away, and she stood by the couple. "Are you guys related?"

"No. Izumi's parents and aunt are in that boy's group (she meant Shikamaru). By the way, I'm Rei (the girl) and this is my boyfriend, Osamu." They shook my hand carefully, and I could tell they were a little nervous about Akira. It'd be for the best if I told them a little of his nature.

"Akira is no ordinary horse. He is as much of a ninja as I am, just without the headband. Don't worry, it's like you have two ninja to look after you." We chatted until it was time to go, and the leader of the caravan sent the horses off. The Group fell into traveling position, two people at the front, two at the side, and two at the rear. I got the front because of Akira, and we walked down the middle of the path. Kiba was the other one traveling at the front, and he remained hidden at the side of the path, as well as Shikamaru, who was traveling at the back. He would come in handy if we were ambushed, because of his shadow techniques.

We traveled easily for a couple of hours, stopping once for lunch. It was quick and mostly quiet, with small conversations as we got to know each other. My group split up to eat, Izumi went with her family and the couple went off into the woods a bit. I sent Akira after them and watched Izumi myself. When the twenty-minute lunch was over Akira followed Rei and Osamu back, carefully watching them.

We continued for a while, until the sunlight seeped through the trees at a five o'clock angle. Akira and I sensed something, and we quietly passed it back along the ranks, and Sakura told the caravan leader because he was in her group. We walked a few more minutes in peace until a cry from the leaves around us sent the caravan horses into a panic. I let Akira calm then as our Group mobilized.

Ten bandits fell from the trees in a circle around us, and there was a moment of stillness. Everyone charged, and I took on three bandits, just blocking them all. Kiba dropped from the trees above and took down two by landing with one foot on each of them. I knocked out the third distracted bandit and we put them in a pile, Akira joining the fight now. No bandits ever got close to the caravan and we didn't even have to use any chakra. Shikamaru stayed concealed, and we left the bandits knocked out in the roadside bushes.

The travelers in the caravan held a new respect for us now, and Izumi came out and tugged on my shirt.

"Thank you for protecting us Yasu. I'll make sure to listen when you tell me to get together with Osamu and Rei." I smiled: finally they believed I could protect them. I saw Osamu and Rei watching me through a window in the side of the caravan. I waved slightly and they returned the gesture, thanking me silently.

"No problem, it's what I like to do." 'It's my job' just didn't sound right, and it was fun to actually protect these people. We moved on well until a few hours after sunset. It was coming to the end of summer and the days were getting shorter. Everyone in the caravan fell asleep and we allotted night watches. This meant we'd lose 1/3 of the time we normally had to sleep, but it was all part of the mission. I had first watch with Ino, and second watch would relieve us at midnight.

I sat on top of the caravan, watching Akira graze and then fall asleep. A few leaves fell and I amused myself by trying to catch one. After I finally had one, I just sat by myself on top of the wagon, thinking. I was interrupted out of my reverie by Izumi crawling onto the roof.

"Whatcha thinkin' 'bout?" She crawled across the roof and sat right next to me. I considered what I should say, and figured the truth. She was only seven or so… I forgot.

"I'm thinking about someone back in the village."

"What about him?" How'd she know it was a guy? Was it in my voice? She turned her eyes to me, and I glanced at her. She was really, really listening. It had been a while since anyone besides my teachers and Akira had given me this much attention.

"A boy, that was on a trip, but he came forty miles to see me off on this trip. He… kissed my cheek, too."

"Do you like him?"

"Yeah, but there are others, too. I don't know who to like, because I'm pretty sure at least three guys like me. It's so confusing, because I don't want to hurt any of them, but I don't know who to choose, and how I'll know if he's right. It's like 'point and choose, and if it's wrong there's no second chance'." Izumi sighed.

"You don't have to choose now, you know." I stopped, stunned. She was right. Why was I making this so complicated? It wasn't like I'd settle down and marry one of them; I had my whole life to live, almost. Thank goodness for children's simple minds. I relaxed and started talking to her like a good friend, like 'what have you done lately' and 'what are you into'? She eventually yawned.

"You should go get some sleep; we have three more days of traveling to go."

"I'm not tired." I patted her on the head: she was just so cute now. I just kept smiling, so she sighed and crawled back into the wagon by a hatch in the roof. "Thank you for talking with me Yasu. It was fun."

"Thank you for listening so well. It's been a long time since I've met someone who listens that well." She smiled and ducked under, closing the hatch above her.

My shift ended without a hitch, and I traded off my position to Hinata and Kiba. I fell asleep under the parked caravan on my blanket from Akira's pack. When morning came I was woken up by the third shift, Sakura and Shikamaru. We ate breakfast and were moving in minutes.

That day passed rather uneventfully, except for I was the leader that hid in the trees. I practiced my fire jutsu and my chakra control on the trees, occasionally standing upside-down on one. After lunch we met another caravan with twenty people and two guard ninja. They asked to travel with us, and we shrugged, keeping a wary eye on them.

Nothing much happened, but that night came the first real battle. I had second watch, and an uneasy feeling. Akira stood by my side by the horses tied to the side of the wagon. The other caravan also had night watches, but they were regular people. I had no idea where their ninja were, and that unnerved me. Akira snorted and Shikamaru, on my watch tonight, landed next to me.

"The other caravan's ninja are circling us. Wake the others, this'll be rough." I hastily got to my feet and woke the rest of the Group, as well as the leader of the caravan. He woke his people and explained there would probably be a fight. Silently they gathered their weapons and put the children and women into the caravan: they were sleeping outside because of the 'added security'. I shoved Osamu and Rei over into a group with Izumi's family, and told Akira to go warn the horses and make them stand still the whole time.

As I crept around the caravan I thought I saw something move, and went to examine the area. I saw an odd rectangle and immediately recognized a paper bomb. I ran to the door of the caravan.

"Everyone out! There's a bomb on the wagon!" I whispered, and they all started making noise. "Shut up and just get out quickly and quietly!" They leapt out one by one, and the enemy ninja fell upon us at that time. I saw them come, three of them. I figured there were more ninja amongst the other travelers in the other caravan, unless they were all ninja. I deflected some thrown kunai and gathered my group together.

Soon the caravan was split into six groups and we fought our way away from the wagon. I set Akira to free the horses tied to it, and he shoved everything inside the caravan out the open back, just before the caravan exploded. The shrapnel flew and we protected our groups. I made three water clones and sent one to help Akira move the stuff he'd saved while the other two joined me in protecting my charges.

The others in my Group were holding out alright and we all moved our charges toward the pile of stuff. I pulled a little of Akira's chakra and made ten more clones, disguising some as other members of my team. After we got organized, the enemy ninja darted into the trees to reform their strategy. In the break of fire we herded everyone together and stood in a circle around them. The children were on the inside, adults on the outside, all in a small tightly packed group. I told them to sit down, and my charges hastily obeyed my command. Others followed their example and soon we had eighteen people in a small area.

Akira stood by me, flicking his ears around for the enemy ninja. His ears locked on a sound and everyone turned toward it. Ten ninja burst from the shrub and attacked, only to be held off by my Group and the clones we had made. I noticed Akira heard something else from the opposite side, and two more ninja burst from the shrubs from behind the group, where I was. I battled one as Akira took on the other with his teeth and hooves.

It was a short battle from there; Akira killed the two ninja by deadly-accurate kicks to their chests, and Shikamaru caught everyone in his Shadow possession. He slowly took the shadow possession away from his teammates he'd captured by accident and the enemy as they were secured. We looked over the ninja after they'd all been dealt with. I called back my water clones and Akira went after the two horses that had escaped. Ino and Sakura examined the other caravan, finding it empty except for some food and other stuff.

We moved everyone into the new caravan, and I found they looked at us now somewhat fearfully.

"Go back to sleep. Remember, we're not gonna let anything happen to you guys. We'll keep the caravan moving forward through tomorrow, so just sleep. You are all safe; the enemy has been dealt with." I calmed them all down, but they still seemed anxious. I closed the doors softly, pausing. "We checked this caravan out, it's entirely safe, and bigger, and newer. Goodnight." When I closed the door, I heard Izumi speak.

"Don't worry; the strong ninja are on our side." Soon after, I felt the tension ease. Akira came back with the other two horses, and I hooked them up. They were two geldings, smaller than Akira, and dark brown, but good horses. They pulled the caravan for a while, but they got tired quickly. It was bigger than the last caravan, so I hooked Akira up between the two of them and in front. When Akira started pulling, the other two started slacking off until Akira scolded them with a sharp squeal and by biting at their necks.

The caravan moved on through the night, and my Group surveyed our injuries and losses, as well as gains. We lost our wagon, and Kiba, Ino, and Hinata were injured. Kiba had a minor gash on his arm which was wrapped easily. Hinata was bruised on her sides and torso, so I wrapped her up and applied some healing paste. Ino had a long cut all along her back, but it was only a quarter-inch deep at the most, so it was bandaged and antiseptic was applied. We got a new caravan, and with Akira pulling we were making good time. The horses were moving at a walk, so they weren't getting tired.

At sunrise I called the horses to a stop and let everyone climb out for breakfast. I anchored the wagon and unhitched the horses. I ran over the two brown ones, and they were fine. I called Akira over as the other two grazed, and was suddenly scared. Akira had a large gash across his back, probably from when our wagon exploded. It had been sealed from the heat, but now it was beginning to bleed.

A back injury could cripple a horse. I examined the full extent of the gash, and determined it would leave a good scar, but it wasn't life threatening, as long as Akira took it easy.

"Akira, why didn't you let me know about this?" He lowered his head and sniffed my hand. I sighed and took an apple out of my packs. Akira happily munched on it. "Doesn't that even hurt you?" Akira just kept eating. I sat at his feet and watched his eyes.

They showed he was very clearly feeling the pain, but his prey-animal instinct was keeping him from showing the weakness. I put some antibiotics and salve on his injuries, and bandaged them by putting a large gauze 'pillow' over the gash and securing it with a bellyband. When breakfast was over I carefully hitched Akira to the wagon, and we made it all the way to the lunch stop.

When I unhitched Akira for the break, he looked around for danger, then laid down, sighing. He'd never been this tired before, and I couldn't let him keep pulling. I'd never tried it before, but maybe I could transform into a horse. I gave Akira a big apple and he ate it happily. I examined his wound again, and it was healing quickly. I reapplied the bandage and left him to graze as I ate with Izumi's family, and Rei and Osamu practically stuck to my side now, after last night.

After lunch was over, I transformed into a horse, making a water clone to tie me into the wagon. I didn't tell anyone of my plan, except Sakura, because it was unsafe to do something like this- they might leave me tied to the wagon if more enemies came, and if I changed back I'd be tangled in the harness and vulnerable.

As a horse, I was brown, and about as big as Akira. I took his spot at the front of the lineup, and Sakura made an excuse for the 'fourth horse's' presence. My clone walked by me, pretending to lead me. As the caravan began moving, Akira walked, untied, by my side. The wagon was difficult to pull, but with the other two brown horses' help, it was a lot easier than it could have been.

My shape as a horse gave me a strange, joyful feeling. I pulled the wagon enthusiastically, and felt my muscles ripple under my fur, and neighed once, to see what that was like. Akira spoke to me, as well, in horse language. It was much more direct, and he scolded me for going too fast. I snorted, irritated, but slowed down, telling him he'd better not correct me unless it was dangerous. I then realized I was tiring out the other horses, so maybe it was all for good reason.

I pulled the wagon until nightfall, when I changed back to myself after my clone unhitched me. Akira was healing remarkably quickly, and I wondered if there'd even be a scar. His wound already looked like the hair had been pulled off, only.

Well, sorry I can't write fight scenes. Also, has anyone noticed that we all kind of view the scene differently in our own mind? I mean, when I write this, I see it as an anime, and I have all the details that I try not to write too much, but you all see it differently anyway. Should I keep a broad scenery (like countryside, or warm, or sunny) or a specific one (forest, seaside)? Oh, I am WORKING ON CHAPTER 10 RIGHT NOW. It'll be done as soon as I can get a significant amount of stuff in there. I hardly planned this fanfic, and am writing for sole-ly myself, although I'm glad you enjoy it and any constructive critiscism or critiscism is helpful.


	9. IllusionoisullI

**Copyright 2007 by Ekonika (S.N.R.)**

**No part of this plot, my own characters, or text can be used without my permission. I do not own Naruto or any of its characters, but the plot and Yasu and Akira are my own and copyrighted. **

**©2007 Ekonika (S.N.R.)**

That night was cool and humid. Sakura said we'd arrive tomorrow around dinner or lunch if we moved quickly. I fell almost immediately asleep under the wagon again. Akira stood by the side of the wagon and slept. I woke for my shift and looked around drowsily. I watched and waited for the sun to rise, but it didn't seem to. I checked on everyone in the wagon, and they were all right I went to the food cabinet and opened it for a snack. It was entirely empty. The food was gone, altogether. I nearly woke everyone up, but instead I went to the previous shifts.

"Guys, do you know anything about the empty food cabinet?!" I asked them once we were gathered outside. They all nearly yelled, too.

"It's empty!?" They all said in unison.

"That's what it looks like." I dropped the big box in front of them.

"But we had twice the food we'd need in there, there's no way we could run out!" Kiba whispered.

"Who took the food?" –Ino.

"No one. It's still there." Shikamaru said. Ino pointed to the box, and even ran her hands around inside it.

"The food's GONE, Shikamaru!" Shikamaru sighed.

"Everyone check your water containers. They're probably empty, too, right? And we haven't left our water alone. We're trapped in a genjutsu. Sakura, alert someone, and bring them out here. We need to find out if the genjutsu's on just us or on everyone. Everyone else, search for food and water. Sakura, Ino, Yasu- stay together. The genjutsu probably started around midnight, so keep an eye out for the people causing it. Meet back here in five minutes."

We broke off into two groups, and I led Sakura and Ino to Akira's packs. The food I'd packed was still there, so either the enemy ninja didn't know food was there, or Akira was immune to it. I shared a little snack with Ino and Sakura, then took the rest of the food and Akira with me as we looked for more food. None was to be found, so we went to the wagon and Sakura woke up one of her charges, a young boy that was little older than Izumi. I let him pet Akira as we walked back to the meeting place around the food box.

"Daisuke (the little boy), can you see food in there?" Sakura asked him once we were gathered. He looked at her like she was crazy.

"Yeah, there's food in there. Why'd you bring it out here?"

"Could you eat something out of it?" He reached for something and appeared to be eating to us.

"Can I go to bed now?"

"Yeah, thank you, Daisuke." Sakura grinned at him and he went back to bed. I passed everyone some food from my pack and we ate for our strength, but more to have the psychological backup of food in our stomachs. When I passed out the food, I felt like I was really needed for the first time. They all gathered around me, thirsty.

"What would we do without you, Yasu." Sakura spoke, and I had to turn away for a second, feeling so happy from just that that a tear formed in my eye.

"You ok?" Kiba watched with concern, as well as Shikamaru.

"Yasu?" Hinata questioned. They cared, they really did! I had real friends for the first time in my life.

"I'm fine, guys. You know, thanks. Thank you very much, Sakura." They all smiled, suddenly understanding. Sakura and Hinata wrapped their arms around my shoulders, and Ino called a group hug. They all grinned and leapt into the hug, even Shikamaru grinned.

"Stop it, you're gonna make me start crying." They chuckled, and I heard Akira make a loud warning whistle. I looked around quickly while everyone else looked at Akira. I spotted a large net coming from above as everyone paid more attention to Akira. They wouldn't make it out in time, but I could keep calm in nets. I focused my chakra and made a 'shock wave' that shoved everyone out from under it before jumping away myself, but something wound around my feet and the net came down over my head. The weights in the corners sent me into the ground. Everyone recovered quickly, and leapt away from me into the trees.

Akira neighed as someone tried to loop a rope over his head, and struck out at the enemy. I sat up slowly in the net and used a kunai to cut my ankles free of the rope that had wrapped around them. I stood to throw the net off and felt a Kunai plant itself lightly in my right leg, right above my kunai pouch. Akira broke free of the enemy's hold and trampled the foe as he ran to me, using his fighting speed. I heard a 'thunk' of someone getting a kunai in a lethal spot, and someone fell from the trees where the kunai in my leg had come from. I threw off the net and moved to my own space in the trees, ignoring the wound for a bit. When I got to a safe spot, I removed the kunai and started tracking the enemies. There were ten altogether, eight, now, because of the stricken one that hit me and the one Akira trampled.

I hated killing. They were ninja, but they were people, too. They had lives, and families, maybe. At least they had friends, like myself. I sat still, assessing my wound. Akira stood on a tree branch nearby. Around me I heard clicking Kunai and grunts of stricken opponents. I hoped that my friends were alright, and set out to find my allies. I bounded through some branches carrying kunai, and deflected an attack twice before coming upon Kiba, who was searching the branches for enemies. When I arrived he grinned slightly and ran over to me, leaping into the air when a kunai landed in front of him. He landed at my back and we fought off a couple of ninja.

I saw a kunai fly at my side, but Akira deflected it, and I realized Akamaru was doing the same. Kiba and I traveled through the branches together and soon found Hinata, who was slightly more injured than myself and Kiba. We soon gathered everyone into a group. The enemy was all around us, so we dropped to the ground. In the dust cloud we kicked up, no weapons fell. I made a substitute and ducked underground, because the nearest bushes were too far away. Everyone noticed (my friends, anyway) and joined me. I contacted Akira, who was still on the surface.

"Akira! Tell me when you see eight ninja on the ground. I'm over here, with everyone else!" I told him, and he shrunk to a small size. Our substitutes on the surface were backed against each other, and deflected everything thrown at them, so the enemy ninja leapt out onto the ground. Akira stomped on the dirt above my head, and I whispered to everyone the locations of the enemy.

"Go!" Everyone got in position and latched onto their target's feet, Akira and Akamaru taking the extra two. Before the enemy realized what happened, they were trapped in dirt up to their noses or knocked out on the ground. Our sneak attack worked and our substitutions vanished. Everyone had knocked out their target, and we all kind of stood and panted for a moment.

"Ok, who's injured? We'd best get everyone patched up." I said, and everyone stepped up. They'd all been wounded, about as badly as I was in my leg. I looked down for the first time since my break in the tree, and I was bleeding well. "I'll be right back with the wrap and antibiotic." I jogged into the wagon, and remembered it was empty to us. I took Akira's pack that had been placed next to the wagon and took out a fifty-foot gauze roll.

Everyone had been wrapped around an arm, leg, or midsection. Akira was the only one not wounded, except for a slight friction burn from the ninja that tried to rope him. We all sat on the ground in a circle, back-to-back. We all sighed in turn, and looked around. The genjutsu hadn't been cancelled yet, so we realized we were still in trouble. There was another ninja out there somewhere. Someone in the tied up pile of ninja shifted. Akira, Shikamaru, and I looked over and realized they were starting to wake, but they were safely secured with a special kind of rope that kind of blew up if it felt jutsu.

"Well, it won't get better until we do something." I stated. Ino sighed again, and we stood as a group. We made clones and left them to stay around the wagon before searching through the forest in our group, staying close together. We traveled in a one-mile radius, scanning, starting with a big circle and getting smaller. We'd been in the genjutsu for a couple of hours, so it was only 2 am, but it felt like 12 hours. After nearly a half-hour, I literally tripped over the cause of tonight's troubles.

"Please don't kill me!" A ninja, about twenty, male, threw up his arms over his head as we all landed on the ground, myself landing on my butt, because I tripped over the coward in the trees. We looked at him in disbelief. He slowly uncovered his face and head, watching us all as we stood quietly, fuming at the situation. Hinata stood silently behind him, and we all gave her a slight nod. She jabbed a spot on his back and he passed out. The scenery shimmered and changed back to what looked more like a water village area.

We followed Akamaru back to camp and were there by 3 am. I still had third watch with Hinata, so I let her take a quick nap. Daybreak found the Group tired and me sleeping on the roof as the wagon rattled down the trail. The other ninja were walking in their positions, with the exception of Hinata, who was sleeping inside. I woke up at lunch time and Shikamaru and the others went to sleep. Hinata and I kept watch as everyone ate lunch, then I turned into a horse and Akira helped me pull the wagon. We made great time, and there were no more distractions.

"Here we are! The Great Naruto Bridge." Sakura stretched and stepped up to the front, near me.

"Why's it called that?" I'd turned back into myself.

"Well, one of my squad's first missions was to protect the builder of this bridge, and we saved his life and enabled the bridge to be built. Mostly, it was Naruto that saved it, so the bridge builder named it after him. Naruto defeated the Assassin of the Mist on this bridge." I watched the bridge go by under my feet in wonder. The mist that covered the bridge cleared halfway across because of the breeze through it, and I saw the fantastic view of ocean as far as I could see, and a few islands. After a little while, we were back in fog again. Izumi walked next to me, hanging onto my arm affectionately. I looked down at her and she looked up at me.

"Yasu, promise you'll come visit sometime?" I smiled.

"Sure. But it'll probably be a while."

"Come stay at my house tonight, I'm sure my parents won't mind." I sighed.

"I dunno, it depends when my group is leaving. We'll probably stay tonight and rest, though. We had a rough night last night." Izumi's eyes grew big.

"What happened?" Perceptive little one, I'd give her that.

"Nothing, we just fell into a pit that someone had dug. It took a bit to get out of." Izumi knew I was lying, and she sighed.

"Please tell me?"

"Nah, it was nothing."

"Alright, whatever you say." She led me across the bridge, recognizing it, I suppose. The mist slowly cleared and I saw the village before me. I heard a collective sigh from behind me and found everyone from inside the caravan either walking alongside it or sitting on top. I smiled and thought how wonderful they had it, to have a home here. I shook away the selfish feeling and returned my attention to the town. Osamu and Rei stood with me once the bridge ended. Izumi was with her family, talking happily with them and Shikamaru. Osamu spoke first.

"Thank you, Yasu. It's been great traveling under your protection." They had their pile of belongings in packs on their shoulders already.

"We'll be seeing you, Yasu! You must be sure to come and visit. Go get our horse, Osamu." Osamu left and put a lead on a brown horse. While he did that, Rei whispered to me. "I think Osamu will propose to me soon, and I would like you to come to the wedding! Make sure to keep in touch, may I have your address?"

"I actually don't have an address, but I'm sure you'll be able to contact me by messages. I'll be in the leaf village for the next couple months, at least." Rei smiled as Osamu showed up, and I watched wistfully as Osamu placed his arms around Rei's waist, swinging her up onto the horse's back. They waved goodbye and Osamu led Rei and the horse away. I looked around for Akira and saw Izumi petting his head and neck.

"Hey, Izumi." She spun towards me and Akira looked up and seemed to smile at me. I walked over to him and wrapped my arms around his neck, burying my face in his black mane.

"Yasu, this is my family. I know you've seen them around the wagon, but you never were fully introduced. They said it was alright if you stayed with us tonight." I took in another breath, breathing the scent of Akira's body before thinking of a reply.

"I still have to check with my group. I'll be right back." Akira walked by my side and I met with Hinata, Shikamaru, and Ino. Sakura and Kiba joined us shortly when they finished their goodbyes.

"So are we going to spend the night here?"

"Yeah, we will. It's getting dark, and we should spend the night in a secure area because we do need to recover from last night." As we all agreed to stay, the caravan leader approached us.

"Alright, I do believe I owe you some money?" We made a half-circle around him and he took out his wallet. We each got 6,000 yen. I stared at it, and when the leader left I asked if it was right.

"Yeah, we were hired for 5,000 yen each, plus 500 for every time bandits showed up or whatever." I pocketed the money and looked around.

"So, where should we meet in the morning if we'll stay here?"

"I think we should all go to the same place, like a hotel, for the night. Two people to a room, and it should be animal-friendly." Ino said. Izumi jogged up to my shoulder.

"Yasu, are you going to come?" I sighed.

"Sorry, Izumi, we'll be leaving early in the morning, and we're going to stick together as a group. Do you know of a cheap inn in town?"

"That's what I've been trying to tell you! My family has a hotel, and we'll let you guys stay for free, even the puppy and your horse." Everyone looked at me and nodded.

"Alright, Izumi, we'll stay at your family's inn tonight. Are you sure it's not a problem?"

"I'm Mr. Hiroshi, Izumi's father. You're all welcome to stay tonight, but we only have four rooms open, so if you won't mind bunking up, it'll be a free stay!" Everyone accepted the offer gratefully, and we followed Mr. Hiroshi and family to their lodging.

"Alright, the rooms open are on the first floor, and they're all in the same hallway. Settle down wherever you want, and I'll close down that hallway except for personal guests."

"Thank you very much, Mr. Hiroshi!" I exclaimed. He was very generous.

"Your animals may stay in your rooms, if you wish, because the floors are easy-clean!"

"Don't worry, they're outdoor-trained." Kiba said, speaking for Akamaru and Akira. We bedded down, Sakura and Ino together, Kiba and Shikamaru, and Hinata with me. As I set up the covers on my bed to my liking, Hinata took a shower. We traded off and soon we were both clean and refreshed.

"Hey, let's get some food." I suggested. My stomach growled and I put my hand over it. I hadn't been hungry in a long time, like I hadn't been full in a long time. Hinata and I went to the lobby and out into the streets. It was getting dark, the sun was already down. We stopped by a quick food stand and ate a small meal, splitting it down the middle of the plate. (Yeah, I do this with my friends whenever we feel cheap.) Hinata seemed nervous, like she had something bugging her.

"What's up, Hinata?" She glanced at me, flustered. I became concerned.

"Yasu…" she poked her fingers together, "do you like Naruto?" I froze. Was that it? She liked Naruto, and was a little jealous. Well, what should I do? I wouldn't give him up. I was silent for a while, and I felt Hinata tense up. "You DO like him, don't you?" I sighed.

"Yes, I do." We ate in silence for a little while longer, and Hinata started talking again.

"How much do you like him?" She really liked him, I supposed.

"Quite a bit, but to tell you the truth, I like some others, too. And, although I do like others, Naruto is my favorite. Excuse my directness, but, I won't give up on Naruto. Sorry."

"That's what I thought. I suppose-"

"Hey girls!" Kiba landed next to the table, ending the conversation. I watched him very carefully, and realized he was focusing mostly on Hinata.

"Hello, Kiba." Hinata smiled. I raised an eyebrow, and Hinata saw. She blushed, and I caught on easily. Kiba sat down next to Hinata and borrowed her chopsticks to eat when we finished. I took a drink of water and contacted Akira, who was grazing near the hotel. He affirmed he was fine, and I returned to my situation.

Kiba and Hinata stood, and Kiba held her hand delicately and kissed it, twice. I grinned. If Hinata could like Kiba, that would take him off my possibility list and her off my rival list. We walked back together, and I felt like the third wheel. After I was in my nightclothes and settled securely in bed, Hinata whispered to me from her bed.

"Yasu, if you will watch over Naruto, I'll let you go for it." I blinked in the dark and sat up, seeing if she was serious. That was a fast change-of-mind. Thank You Kiba.

"I will, definitely. I'll stay by him, if he chooses to like me, that is. I still don't even know, remember." Hinata huffed contentedly and rolled over. I laid back down and smiled to myself in the dark.

**Well. Guess where I am now. A foreign country! It's very… entertaining? Different?... Experience-ful, I suppose. Wish I could go see some horses, they speak the same language no matter where you go. That's food for thought, huh? Anyway, I heard about Kiba-Hinata as a possibility, and it sounded good to me. Freed up Naruto, and also, Kiba is similar in a way. Hinata could very possibly fall in love with him. Well, have fun with whatever. Ekonika **

**The next half of the story was deleted in some freak jump-drive accident, so I'll have to re-write it from this point on. T.T But no matter! I'll make it better… I hope. I do have something great planned.**


	10. Tied In

**Copyright 2007 by ****Ekonika**** (S.N.R.)**

**No part of this plot, my own characters, or text can be used without my permission. I do not own Naruto or any of its characters, but the plot and Yasu and Akira are my own and copyrighted. **

**©2007 ****Ekonika**** (S.N.R.)**

The next morning when I woke up Hinata was in the bathroom, so I wandered around the lobby a bit. Everyone else slowly showed up and we ate breakfast. I wanted to get back home, or so I considered my hotel room in Konoha now. Everyone else felt the same way sort of, so we set out at sunrise. Izumi and her father saw us off at the bridge.

"I'll miss you, Yasu. Make sure to come back." Izumi gestured me to bend in closer and whispered, "I'll see you at Rei and Osamu's wedding." She grinned, letting me stand back up. I smiled at her. I guess word spreads quickly in a town like that. I hoped Osamu wouldn't feel the pressure.

We walked across the bridge wordlessly, and as soon as our feet hit the dirt on the other side, we took off running. For a while our flight was erratic and we had to keep adjusting our speed, but we soon fell into a rhythm and skipped lunch so we could get home faster. That night for dinner we were halfway home. I looked up at the setting sun and thought of home. Other heads turned the same way as mine and we all watched the sunset, thinking of those in Konoha we missed. We drifted off to sleep, only one person on watch. The watch was much shorter too, because all six of us had a turn.

The next day we were all ready to go by sunrise. I rode Akira until lunchtime, where we actually took a break. Kiba let me ride Akamaru for a bit after lunch, and I let Hinata ride Akira. We traded mounts between the group until sunset. We were all panting from running since lunch, and I'd used up half my chakra to run easier. I recognized the path near the village, and with my headband the ninja in the trees waved us by.

The sun had set by the time we reached the gate. They let us in as a group and we all panted. I caught my breath first because I used almost all my chakra for the last dash. We looked around at each other and then a myriad of hugging and handshaking followed.

"See you around." I called as I walked away waving. Kiba, Shikamaru, and Hinata called back, the others just grinned and waved. I jogged home, smiling to myself. Akira walked by me and I rested my hand on his shoulder.

What do you think, Akira? I'd definitely fight for them. I believe they're life-friends now.

Akira spun his head to face me and nuzzled my shoulder, nodding. 'They surely will come anytime you call them. Do not abuse that power.'

"I wouldn't abuse my power!" A nearby shopkeeper packing up late looked at me oddly. 'See, now look, Akira, you made me speak out loud.' Akira laughed and bit my arm.

'Ride me. We need to get to your room, and you've used up too much chakra.'

'I know. Thanks for worrying.' Akira snorted, acting offended, but gave me a last gentle shove with his nose before I climbed onto his back. He became easier to understand as time went by, and now we could speak in words between each other.

When I arrived at the hotel, I looked down the street and saw a light on in Naruto's building, but had no idea if it was Naruto's room or not. I wanted to go see him, but it wouldn't be polite so late at night. I walked inside and heard something fall. I jumped to the ceiling and stuck there, crouching upside-down by the chakra I had left. I looked around and saw a scroll that had fallen on the floor. I got down and picked it up, putting it back on the counter. I read the tag on it and it said 'For Yasu'. I unrolled it and was tentatively peeking at the first few characters when a voice sounded behind me.

"That's yours; you don't have to act like you're going to get in trouble." I dropped the scroll and spun before Hiroko finished speaking her first word. I blushed and picked up the scroll again. Did she really ever sleep? I took the scroll to my room, embarrassed and disgruntled. I read it:

Yasu:

Come to the first bridge after the waterfall in the east end of the village.

Be there at sunrise, and don't bring Akira. I don't mean it to sound like

I'm cutting Akira out, but just leave him at home tomorrow.

Oh, and welcome back to the leaf village.

Jiraiya

He'd signed his name in fancier writing than the rest of the letter. After I put the scroll on my dresser, I took a shower and dusted around my room. When I finished unpacking it was late or very early, and I fell into bed, falling asleep immediately.

The next day I jumped up and stretched before falling back into bed. I curled up away from the lightening sky. A shadow moved across me and I opened my eyes. Akira dropped the scroll on my head and I remembered. I changed into my day clothes groggily. Akira pulled at my shirt until I realized it was on backwards I splashed some cold water on my face after I dressed and looked around, fully aware, but not awake. I hugged Akira around his neck, saying goodbye. I left and Akira watched me go.

When I arrived at the bridge I rubbed my eyes and walked out into the middle of it. I had prepared for this, and I acted sleepy, but I was fully awake. If it was an ambush, I was ready to flee or fight. I looked around and found Jiraiya sitting in a tree. He was obviously trying to conceal himself, so I ignored him and threw sticks into the water to watch them drift under the bridge and downstream. The sun rose and I grew bored with floating things downriver.

After a few more minutes Jiraiya hadn't moved. He occasionally glanced at me, but mostly seemed to be writing something. I looked up, startled, when I heard the repetitive thudding of someone running. They sounded like they were late for something. I quickly located the sound and brightened.

"Naruto!" He glanced up from his running and nearly tripped. I ran towards him and we collided on the bridge in a friendly hug.

"Why didn't you come see me last night?" Naruto said after we separated.

"I got back late! I figured you were asleep." We danced around a bit, too excited to stay still. I filled in Naruto on the mission, and he told me all that had passed while I was gone. After about ten minutes of joyful reunion, Naruto and I sat next to each other leaning against the bridge rails. Jiraiya finally jumped down from his hiding spot and landed in front of us. Naruto was surprised, but I just stood up.

"What did you do that for, pervy sage! I almost fell off the bridge!" Naruto accused, recovered already.

"What were you doing, sitting there the whole time while I waited? You did summon me here; it's not polite to be late." I asked.

"Wait, you- Jiraiya summoned you too?" Naruto asked.

"Yeah, I got a letter yesterday, late last night."

"Ok, what's the deal?" Naruto and I waited for Jiraiya to answer.

"Alright, I have a proposition. First, Naruto, how would you feel about having a fellow student? To train with you, go on missions together and stuff." Naruto thought for a few seconds, then his face brightened.

"Is it going to be-" Jiraiya covered Naruto's mouth.

"I'm glad you like the idea." My heart started pounding and something in my brain tried to connect. I knew something that wasn't reaching my conscious mind. "Yasu! How would you like to train under me! Toad sage and Legendary Sannin!" It clicked, and I froze for a minute. Train… with Naruto? And such a skilled teacher?

"Y-yes! I'd love t-to! Thank you, Master!" I bowed deeply. Naruto squirmed free of Jiraiya's grasp and scoffed.

"Don't call him master, once you see his habits you'll change your mind." Jiraiya reached out to grab Naruto, who dodged and stood by me. "You taught me too well, sensei!" Jiraiya shrugged.

"A pupil should always try and out-do his sensei, but don't get too confident!" Naruto and I laughed. "Ok, you two, since I'm training both of you now, come here: it's time for your first assignment." Naruto and I stepped up obediently. Jiraiya lifted our hands and tied something around my wrist. He dropped my arm and Naruto's. I pulled away from him and my arm got caught on something. A shimmering rope stretched between Naruto and me. I pulled again and Naruto did the same. It stretched a little, but didn't break.

"That rope won't break at all. I can make it longer or shorter. Try sliding it up your arm." Jiraiya offered. I did, and the rope disappeared for a second to reappear around my stomach. "There, so it won't get in the way if you need your hands. It's a chakra rope, and it'll solidify in a minute. It absorbs all chakra attacks at it, transforms to fit you if you change size, shape, et cetera. Alright, this will teach you three lessons, and I'll explain them to you as we go. First lesson: teamwork. I'll let you two use today to get used to it, and tomorrow we'll practice and get down to the real training."

Naruto and I stared at Jiraiya, still stunned.

"But… wait a minute!" Jiraiya paused and looked questioningly at me.

"Yes?" I stuttered at the indignity, and tried to think of something good. I didn't come up with anything besides this:

"It's not right!" He looked at me questioningly still. "I mean… what about when we have to use the bathroom? Bathing? Sleeping?!"

"You'll figure SOMEthing out. It'll be fine. Oh, one more thing about the rope: I'm able to sense it anywhere, so I'll be able to find you guys anytime, anyplace. Now, if you'll excuse me. I have some work I need to get done. So long." And he was gone. Naruto and I stared at each other. I sat down, and Naruto started running in circles around me. The rope let him without tangling me up. He stopped and sat down, his back against mine.

"We can't walk around like this! People will laugh!"

"Or think it's a training exercise. If they don't we could set them straight." I stood up and started walking. Naruto followed along grudgingly, with his hands in his pockets. He walked behind me looking at the side of the road.

"Where are we going?" Naruto asked after a bit.

"I don't know. I guess we should go to the training field." We walked along the least busy streets we could find. As we turned onto a street I felt Naruto get nervous. I found the problem almost immediately, and they found us.

"Naruto! Have you gotten yourself in trouble so soon?" Gai and Asuma stood in our path, clearly seeing the rope. I tried to ignore them, but Naruto's clear humiliation got to me.

"Yasu, how'd you get dragged down with him? Normally Naruto gets into trouble by himself. Or are you setting him straight?" Ok, now it was personal. I glanced at Naruto and touched the rope softly. Naruto nodded, and we stepped away from each other, walking towards the laughing teachers. As we passed them on either side, Naruto and I suddenly jumped forward, pulling the rope taught around their ankles. We kept running as the astonished guys landed on their feet, looking around for us.

I ducked around a corner, panting. Naruto hit the wall next to me and I peeked around the corner. They hadn't spotted us yet, and they were looking around, bewildered. Naruto and I looked at each other and burst out in silent laughter. We continued to the training field joking about how the rope wasn't all bad. Unfortunately, everyone was training today.

Neji, Rock Lee, Shino, Choji, Ino, Shikamaru, TenTen, Kiba, Hinata, Sakura, and Sasuke were at the training field, and after Kiba spotted me, they all ran over so the people I hadn't met could meet me. I was delighted they wanted their friends to meet me, but, in this condition… well, it was a training device.

"So, Yasu, we meet again." TenTen spoke. "Last time you really couldn't call it meeting." Yeah, I suppose you couldn't.

"So, you're Yasu?" Choji said, munching. Neji watched me carefully, and I turned my attention to the quiet boy I hadn't seen before. I replied to Choji when I saw a beetle land on the quiet guy's jacket. I picked it up and let it crawl on my finger. Everyone watched in surprise as Shino (of course it's Shino!!! ;-P) held his finger up to mine and the bug moved over to him. I felt a little ashamed, because I suddenly realized it was Shino's beetle.

"Wow, Yasu, I kinda figured you'd be scared of bugs." TenTen said.

"Nope, just spiders. And they're ok most of the time."

"So, what's with you two?" Sasuke spoke, asking about the rope between Naruto and me. Of course, Sasuke had to ask. Everyone repeated the question after Sasuke.

"It's a training exercise, for teamwork, Jiraiya says. He'll take it off on Friday." Everyone pretty much forgot about it after that. We all trained together, using anyone and everyone's kunai and shuriken, or dueling. Naruto and I weren't dueled so much because of the rope. In the afternoon Naruto and I left the training grounds to get some food, a lunch-dinner sort of thing.

Naruto walked a bit in front of me, so I walked a little faster. He glanced at me and sped up a little. In no time we were tearing down the streets, not paying attention to where we were going, just racing like terror was after us. We tore through town and were soon in the forest. I dodged around a young tree and heard a splintering noise behind me as I was jerked to a stop by the rope.

I grabbed the rope and curled up before I hit the ground and looked around to see the splintering noise. The tree was about five inches thick, and the rope at the speed Naruto and I were going snapped it. The stupid tree was now falling at me because I landed in front of it. I staggered to my feet quickly and felt something hit me again. This time I landed on something soft and heard the tree hit the ground behind me. Naruto had shoved me out of the way. I stood up a second time and felt incredibly grateful, but annoyed.

"I could have gotten out of the way myself." I lifted him to his feet and he put his arm around my shoulder. I followed his example and we leaned on each other for a bit.

"I know, but I wanted to make sure. We hit that tree pretty hard. Is your stomach ok?"

"Yeah, it's fine. I'll be sore, but after a good night's sleep it'll be great."

"I think I would've won." Naruto laughed and stood up on his own, taking his arm away. I felt a little sorry for it, but sighed quietly and got over it.

"Definitely not. I was in the lead, you know it." I shoved him playfully and he spun away, too surprised to keep balanced. When he fell over the rope pulled me onto his chest, tangling us both in the rope. We both had our arms tucked up in front of us as the rope held us nose-to-nose. I couldn't help noticing the muscle under his jacket. We stumbled to our feet clumsily, still tangled. I realized his hands were locked against my chest as well and blushed furiously.

I tried to shove off his chest, but the rope didn't budge. Lucky for him, he didn't shove off my chest at all, or I'd have had to injure him. I tried to think clearly, but it proved hard. I took a deep breath and noticed how good he smelled, like… well, ramen, and I couldn't exactly place it, but it was the most relaxing scent, and it was deep and warm. He stared at me oddly, then his eyes softened and he looked away sharply, closing his eyes. Without his stare on me I was able to focus and untangle the rope.

A minute later, I fell backwards onto a patch of grass and Naruto fell as far away from me as the rope allowed.

"You're a pervert." I stated. He sat up and half-glared at me, but he looked amused as well.

"No I'm not. I swear I didn't plan that. If YOU hadn't shoved me it wouldn't have happened!" I rolled so I was faced away from him, huffing. True, he was probably a bit of a pervert, but I was mostly arguing to cover up the embarrassment. After a minute of silence behind me, I looked back. Naruto was resting his head on his knees, and looked genuinely sad. I couldn't help it.

"What's wrong?" He looked away from me a little.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to do that, honest." The female kindness/compassion thingy kicked into gear, and I crawled over to him. I put my arm around his shoulder, and he looked at me.

"I was just giving you a hard time, don't worry about it Naruto. It was fine, an accident." I closed my eyes and hugged him, and I could feel the astonishment. Gawd he was so cute! He hugged me back tentatively, and we broke apart. "Just don't make a habit of it." I joked, and we stood up.

"Want to go have some ramen for dinner?"

"If there aren't any trees on the way. Race ya!" We took off again and had a quiet dinner of delicious ramen. After that, we focused on the problem of where to sleep.

"It's improper for a girl to stay at a guy's place overnight!"

"Well I'M not moving my whole house!"

"Then bring over stuff like it was a sleepover!"

"THAT'S not proper either!"

We settled on Naruto coming over to my hotel and he would sleep on the floor. I stood outside his room as he gathered his belongings for the sleepover and winced whenever I heard a clatter of things falling over. Several times the rope around my wrist tugged and Naruto called out.

"Don't come in! Just stick your arm in the door, I need another foot." He didn't want to show me his room, and that was fine with me. It was probably a mess. After a while, he came out with a bundle of blankets and other things, including a plant.

"Why do you have a plant?" I questioned. He didn't seem like he would.

"Well, I'll be at your house 'til Friday, and I can't leave it unattended." We came to my room and I nodded at Hiroko as we passed her. Naruto set up his stuff on the floor next to my bed, and I sat and watched him, not able to go do anything. I walked into the bathroom unthinkingly, and closed the door. When I came out, I sat down on the bed again and realized I'd just solved the bathroom/bathing problem. Because Naruto's bed was in between mine and the restroom, he was close enough that the rope had enough slack. I crawled into bed and looked over at Naruto, feeling a little weird.

"Goodnight."

"Yeah." We looked at each other, uneasy, then I rolled over and fell asleep.

_Thud!_

I woke up to pain in my side and Naruto's face three inches away. He tried to roll and the rope pulled tighter. I realized it was wrapped around Naruto and had pulled me off my bed.

"_Naruto.__ Hey!_ Naruto! Wake up!" He opened his eyes and looked at me, three inches from his face. "You tangled yourself AND ME in the rope. Roll that way." He did so, quickly. I stood up and climbed back into bed, then reached out to Naruto and took his nightcap. I put it on my own head as he sat up and watched after his hat. I took it off and handed it back to him before falling asleep again, happily.

Well, this took forever and I think it's not a good chapter all-together, but here it is indeed. **And, I haven't started ch. 11 yet.**


	11. Summons!

**Copyright 2007 by Ekonika (S.N.R.)**

**No part of this plot, my own characters, or text can be used without my permission. I do not own Naruto or any of its characters, but the plot and Yasu and Akira are my own and copyrighted. **

**©2007 Ekonika (S.N.R.)**

**Chapter 11: Summons!**

**I'm trying this chapter in Third person… Well, tell me what you think! XD**

Yasu woke up and rolled out of bed, stepping over an odd mass on the floor to get to the bathroom. Her foot landed on the mass and she jumped to attention when it grunted. She stared at Naruto sleeping on the floor for a bit, then it all clicked into place. _Oh yeah… he's here because of the training…_ Naruto rolled over and settled into sleep again.

Carefully, Yasu went into the bathroom and prepared for her day. She realized that it would be a good idea to get dressed before Naruto woke up. She slowly tiptoed to the dresser in her room at the foot of the bed, and pulled out some clothes. As she dressed, she heard Naruto stir and watched, horrified, as he sat up and rubbed his forehead. He looked at Yasu once his vision focused.

Yasu stood wearing only underclothes and clutching a shirt in front of her chest. Naruto blinked a few times, and a realization came to the two of them that moving would be a good idea. Naruto scrambled to his feet and jumped into the bathroom, slamming the door as Yasu pulled up the bed sheets to cover herself. Once Naruto ducked behind the door, Yasu finished dressing, blushing of anger and embarrassment. By the time she was dressed, the feelings had almost passed. Naruto carefully knocked on the bathroom door.

"I'm dressed, it's safe now." He walked out of the bathroom and kept his eyes off Yasu's for the rest of the time they spent in the room. The sun hadn't risen yet when they walked out, meeting Akira in front of the building. Yasu swung up onto Akira and Naruto followed her example, settling behind Yasu.

"I've never ridden a horse before." Naruto admitted nervously. Yasu looked back at him disbelievingly. "What? There aren't many horses around here, and the few times I've tried to ride any hoofed mammal I've been unseated and nearly trampled." Yasu laughed and nudged Akira into a full run.

"Just settle in, you'll enjoy it!" Yasu said, and even though the wind ripped away her words, Naruto still heard it somehow. He latched his arms around her waist for the first mile. Soon, though, as Yasu said, he settled into the rhythm and carefully let go of Yasu and spread his arms out sideways. Yasu laughed when she saw Naruto enjoying the ride so much, and did the same.

"That was amazing! I've never gone so fast!" Naruto exclaimed as Akira slowed to an easy canter and they approached the waterfall where they were to meet Jiraiya. He hugged Yasu from behind and rubbed his cheek against hers. "Akira is amazing! Carrying both of us and going so fast! Thank you, Akira, and Yasu, I never thought I'd ever ride a horse." Yasu sat still on Akira's back, stunned, only staying on because it was second nature to her. Akira hopped a little, which shook her back into consciousness.

"Remember, Akira's no ordinary horse, he's a ninja too. No other horse could keep up with him, no matter how short the distance. Also, he respects you and likes you." Both riders grinned, and Akira lunged into a jump over the river, so Yasu and Naruto clung to each other and Akira, surprised again. "Normally, I pay more attention while riding." Yasu laughed nervously. Akira slowed to a gradual halt at the base of the waterfall and looked up. Yasu looked at his eyes for a moment, then held her breath.

"Hold on tight, Naruto."

"What? Why-" He was cut off and clung tightly to Yasu who had a death grip on Akira's neck and Akira leapt straight up into the air the 50 or so yards to the top of the waterfall, and made a graceful landing at the top. Naruto slowly slid off Akira's side, stunned. Since he still held Yasu, she was pulled off too.

"Akira! Don't be a show-off!" Akira reared happily and Yasu stood right under his flailing hooves. Akira took a step back and bowed his head, and Yasu could tell he was still laughing. She couldn't help but join him, and stroked his neck. Meanwhile, Naruto recovered quickly.

"Does he always do that?"

"Hardly ever, he's just being a show-off today." Naruto pet the other side of Akira's neck and the two of them watched the sun rise as they waited for Jiraiya.

After five minutes, Akira threw his head into the air, narrowly missing Naruto and Yasu, and snorted flames into the air. _'You're getting too much into breathing fire, aren't you?'_ Yasu asked Akira once he stopped. Before Akira could answer he spun his head and Yasu had to duck as Akira whistled at Jiraiya who walked out of the bushes.

"Smart horse, I was being as stealthy as I could, and he spotted me while I was still a ways away. Speaking of Akira, Lady Tsunade has some people looking into him right now. Just to let you know, Yasu. Alright, so shall we start training?" Both trainees landed in front of Jiraiya and said 'YEAH!' at the same time. Jiraiya rubbed his head. "Guess I shouldn't be so late next time, huh? I mean, a whole five minutes after sunrise, you must have been SOO bored."

"Well, we both want to get stronger."

"Yeah, you're our teacher! So? What are we learning today?"

"Easy, down, boy!" Jiraiya patted Naruto on the head. "Easy Yasu. Today's training is just going over the basics, and it'll take all day, I should think." He held up a hand to stop Naruto's objection. "You know the basics, yes, but now you need to know them as a team. If this training comes out right then you two will be probably the most valuable shenobi in the whole village for stealth missions."

"Most valuable shenobi?"

"In the WHOLE leaf village?"

"Do I have to repeat myself?" He grinned despite himself. "Now, first you will climb trees, no hands, and have to support each others' weight. Take turns until you get it down perfectly. Second will be walking on water while supporting each other. Finally, I'll release some toads, not just any toads, ninja ones: you'll have to capture them together, and you'd better not talk; they have acute senses of hearing. Ready, and… go. If you need me, don't bother, I have some research to do. I'll check in on you guys in an hour or so."

"But, ero-sannin, there won't be any girls at the waterfall this early." Naruto said. Yasu looked from one to the other, confused, then, when she understood, she stared at Jiraiya, stunned. Jiraiya stopped and saw Yasu's expression, then laughed.

"I suppose you're right, Naruto. I'll stay here for a while and watch you two train then. Oh! Here, let me see that rope really quick… and there you have it." He'd shortened the rope so there were six inches between Yasu's waist and Naruto's waists. "Now you'll have to have complete control of your chakra, and complete awareness of the other person."

"C'mon Yasu, let's climb the tallest tree we can find." Yasu nodded and Naruto felt it, although he wasn't able to see her from where he was. They gathered their chakra and Yasu easily sensed Naruto's. They walked up to a huge tree and carefully placed a foot apiece on the bark. Slowly, they went up. When the lowest branch was reached, 50 feet off the ground, the two of them hung upside-down.

"Ok, now, Naruto, slowly ease your chakra away and I'll keep a hold on the tree branch, then we'll switch." Yasu locked her arms with Naruto's back to back, and Naruto pulled his feet from the branch slowly. Yasu wobbled a bit, but kept up the chakra and continued to walk up the trunk to another branch, with Naruto just hanging on, half-limp. When Yasu was safely and securely upside-down on the next branch, she leapt back down to the one below her and spun around it so she was upside-down again.

Naruto did the same, and soon they were running through the trees, carrying each other piggy-back or just by letting the rope hold the other. At the same time, they kicked off the bottom of a tree branch and landed in front of Jiraiya on the ground softly.

"Five minutes? I don't think anyone's ever earned that so fast… well, go to the water now, and let me lengthen that rope again, so you'll have a little more room. Now, to prove you've mastered this one, you'll have to come back here when you finish with the basics. Go, and I hope this one takes longer, I couldn't even catch a nap."

The same thing happened when Naruto and Yasu tried it on the water; it did take longer, but they were able to carry each other around, no problem. They even managed to hand-stand for a little and roll out of it, moving their chakra to the point where they touched the water, still on top.

"Good, good, now come here, stand here," he drew an 'x' in the dirt, and another one right next to it, "and here." Before they could move, much like when the rope was put on in the first place, a double loop went around their ankles, like in a three-legged race. Also, Jiraiya shortened the rope on their wrists, so one arm and one leg were tied to the others'. "Go run across the water, but you might want to practice on land first."

Half an hour later, it was perfected.

"Master! This is boring! Can we do something else?" Yasu was growing impatient; having an arm and leg tied to someone else was more irritating than she believed possible before. Jiraiya removed the ankle-bond and loosed the wrist-waist one to ten feet again.

"This is the hardest test, and it will use your stealth skills, and throw you into knowing what it is you're supposed to learn from this rope training. The third and most important thing. Come find me when you catch all 15 of these guys." He summoned a crate with a sliding latch door on the top. "We'd better do this in an enclosed area, so they don't get too far away. Here, touch the crate." Yasu and Naruto did so, and Jiraiya held his fingers up in front of his face. A swirling sensation came over the three of them and they disappeared, to reappear in a 3-mile by 3-mile training area.

"There you go, nine square miles for these little guys to run. You'll have to track, stealth, and communicate by making no noise. Each of the toads, though, has a little ribbon tied around its right front leg." He pulled out a toad by quickly opening and shutting the sliding door. "Return them to this crate, and good luck." He left, and the crate lid immediately slid open all the way, and 14 little frog/toads leapt out in all different directions, the fifteenth already having a head start.

"Ahh!!! Look at all of them go!" Naruto yelled. All the toads heard him and took a speedy leap in the direction they were going.

The team set out after the slowest toad they had seen, and soon came upon him, sitting in a sunlit clearing. The team ducked behind some trees and nodded at each other before leaping for the toad. Right before their hands cupped over it, something pulled them up short: they'd dived around opposite sides of the tree. The toad laughed in its own peculiar way and hopped out of sight.

'_Naruto!' _Yasu thought in her head.

"What?" She stared at him, and he stared back, and what just happened slowly dawned over them.

'_Did… did she just… talk… to my mind?'_ Naruto thought, brokenly. Yasu nodded, getting the general idea. She focused some chakra in her mind and thought at Naruto.

'_Do you think this is what Jiraiya was trying to teach us? Mental telepathy?'_

'_Mental… …?'_ They were starting to figure out how to talk directly into the others' mind. It was choppy from Naruto, though.

'_Can you understand me?'_

'_Yeah… … … understand…?'_ Yasu could tell she was missing bits of Naruto's thoughts.

'_Focus your chakra in your mind. Actually, I think I'm focusing my chakra in _your_ mind.'_ They untangled themselves from the tree and walked around a bit, trying to track the frog, not bothering to ponder this weirdness. Suddenly, Jiraiya appeared before them.

"Stop. This part of training's called off for today. We'll pick up tomorrow at the same point, but for now, Yasu, The Hokage has requested your presence for a conference immediately. Naruto, you are supposed to accompany her. Go, now." Jiraiya took out a scroll and made a hand sign. 15 toads came out of the forest and stood in front of Jiraiya. "You mean you haven't even caught ONE?!"

"We were getting there, Ero-sannin!" Naruto defended. "Come on, Yasu. I know where to go." The pair bounded into the tree tops and out of the training grounds, making their way to the Hokage.

**Is this chapter a little short? Well, whatever. Send in comments, please! (It's HARD to write in third person now… Sorry for any first-person bits, I tried to get them all out. May have skipped one or two. Also, you know that picture I mentioned at the bottom of chapter 1? (That I just put there? ) Well, I think I should have it linked to in chapter 12. Depending on how school goes. **


	12. Plans

**©2007 Ekonika (S.N.R.)**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Any part of it. But, You don't care. Just so long as this is here, I'm good. Scroll on down and read some. **

**Chapter 12: Plans**

Outside the Hokage's door, Yasu and Naruto sat, awaiting the conversation that was requested.

"What do you think Tsunade wants to talk with you about?" Naruto asked. Yasu fidgeted.

"I have some idea, but I wonder if it's good news or bad news… I think it's about Akira." Naruto scooched closer to Yasu on the bench.

"I'm sure it's fine. Don't worry, Yasu. Grandma Tsunade wouldn't do anything against Akira. I know it." The mood lightened a bit, from kids-awaiting-a-parent-teacher-conference tension to awaiting-the-next-mission tension.

"So, you've met Lady Tsunade?"

"Met her; I'm the one who brought her to the village. With Jiraiya, that is. She's kind, and really does care about the village and everyone in it. We're kind of friends, you could say. I'm sure she'll be kind to you."

"Yasu, Naruto, you're called for now." A girl leaned out the doorway and called us up.

"Alright, Shizune." Naruto said. Yasu walked past her, and two high-level ninja passed them in the doorway, nodding at them on the way out. Yasu didn't like the reserved looks they had.

The large, spacious room was bright and cheerful, with windows around two-thirds of it. Lady Tsunade sat at a desk in the center of those windows, and watched Yasu and Naruto come in.

"Oh, yes, Jiraiya told me the two of you were tied together. Well, let's begin, shall we?" Naruto and Yasu looked around at each other, and Naruto smiled reassuringly. Tsunade glanced at Shizune, and the two of them seemed to share a private joke.

"Lady Tsunade, Hokage, is this about Akira?"

"A little, yes, but mostly, it is about you. You are still an academy student ninja? I need you to keep training; you could be a very valuable ninja to our village, if your training with Jiraiya is working. Yes?"

"I… I don't mean to be rude, but I'm just here to train. I'll be leaving in a couple months." Tsunade raised an eyebrow and Naruto's face fell a bit as he looked at Yasu, disbelievingly.

""Well then, we need to get you to be a chunin, at least. And know that you are always welcome here, as a Hidden Leaf ninja. But first, I do need to discuss the matter of Akira with you. My top shenobi have looked up information on 'Kuroy Yoake' and the problem may be bigger than we both assumed. Kuroy Yoake, Black Dawn, is not a horse at all, but a dangerous rogue, top of the list sixteen years ago before they disappeared. Unfortunately, we have little information on them, here's what we have." Tsunade handed Yasu a book opened and creased to a page. Naruto leaned over her shoulder to read it.

Alias: Kuroy Yoake

Gender: Unknown

Class: Jonin, but is thought to have trained to equal an entire three-man Anbu Squad

Status: Rogue

Location: Unknown

Motive/Plot: Interested in Akira, a peculiar stallion, and the five- and six-tailed beasts.

"As you may be able to tell, this could bee a serious problem for the leaf village. However, there is no real proof he is after Akira, but…" Yasu looked up, alarmed.

"Akira… Well, Kuroy is after tailed beasts… could Akira be…?"

"You're sharp, Yasu. Exactly. We'll have to look over Akira and watch him carefully, and you will be responsible for reporting any sign that would suggest he's a tailed beast. Despite his chakra, we already know of that. You will report, right?"

"Absolutely, although I don't think Akira could be a tailed beast, I've had him since a little after he was born, and never seen anything unusual." Tsunade nodded.

"Now, to the matter of your training. Either way, Keeping Akira will be dangerous, so, I am going to bring you up through the ranks as quickly as possible. If you complete your training successfully with Naruto, I will promote you to Genin, and you will set out on a B-rank mission, without anyone to accompany you." Tsunade nodded towards Naruto. "That also means your stallion will have to stay here, and Naruto, you are trusted to look after him for the two weeks this mission should take."

"I'll assign you your mission later, but for now, all you need to know is a week after you get back, Chunin exams will begin, and you and Naruto will be entered together. Come back on Saturday, at… Shizune, what time did Yasu's client ask to meet her?" Yasu was stunned; someone requested _her_, specifically?

"Sunrise, Ma'am."

"Right, so be here thirty minutes beforehand for your briefing. Dismissed."

It was a little after two pm, and Naruto and Yasu were free for the rest of the day. They wandered the village for a while, then Yasu spotted a bright poster, advertising a fair in the next town. Naruto read it quickly, and brightened.

"Shall we?" He laughed and held his arm out, and Yasu looped hers through it gladly, grinning.

"Absolutely-"

"Where do you think you two are going?" Jiraiya appeared on top of a great toad in front of the two. He looked down upon them for a moment, acting disappointed, then broke into a smile. "Make sure you take some money with you!" He tossed a frog-wallet to Naruto and a small green bag to Yasu. "And here's a picnic dinner, the food's expensive." He held it over his student's heads, and pulled it back when they reached for it.

"One condition, my pupils. I'm coming with you!"

An argument and a few miles later, Jiraiya tagged along happily behind the less-than-thrilled twosome.

"I want to watch you two! Going through the trials of young love for the first time! The thrill of the first kiss, the sensation of-"

"Shaddup!" Naruto shouted, as he and Yasu were blushing up a storm.

"Alright, alright, I was going to say 'holding hands through the crowded streets'. Now is that too bad?" Naruto and Yasu glanced at each other quickly, then took off running, embarrassed to an astonishing point. Jiraiya laughed to himself as his students tore down the path, almost a half-mile away in just a minute. _They need the exercise, but you know, they wouldn't be so embarrassed if it hadn't been running through their minds already._

Naruto and Yasu forgot their teacher when they arrived at the fair and saw the mass of people and games laid out before them.

"C'mon!" Naruto dragged Yasu forward to the games, but they passed over them all and eventually came to a giant Ferris wheel.

"Oooh." They chorused before sprinting up to the giant wheel. Jiraiya came jogging up and spotted the two of them climbing into a basket. When Jiraiya arrived at the Ferris wheel, Naruto and Yasu were a couple baskets ahead already, and looking at the aerial view of the fair in awe. Suddenly, Naruto grinned at Yasu.

"Let's rock the basket!" It was now stopped at the top as some people got off and others climbed in, taking a while. Yasu hesitated, but Naruto cautiously swung it a couple times, and Yasu joined in. Jiraiya sat in his basket below, looking up at the twosome's, and getting suspicious.

"What are you two doing!?!?" He shouted, alarmed and with a little disbelief. Naruto and Yasu giggled until they realized what it might have looked like to pervy-sage's mind. The basket stopped and from then on they just enjoyed the view.

"Are you serious about leaving the village, Yasu?" Naruto asked when the wheel stopped again: this time Jiraiya's basket was up top.

"Yeah, I am just here for training. My goal is to be the most powerful ninja in the village I am from." Yasu's face fell, as if remembering something painful, and Naruto recognized it.

"Were you lonely? Back in your village, I mean." Yasu said nothing, but looked at Naruto curiously, shaking away the sadness in her mind. "I know what loneliness is like, I grew up without parents." Naruto looked down, and Yasu watched him, feeling stunned. "No one in this village cared about me, until Master Iruka. He kept me from hating and distrusting everyone, and this village has become precious to me." He grinned at Yasu, who was staring at him, still stunned. Her nurturing feminine nature kicked in, and she reached out to put her hand on Naruto's shoulder across the basket.

Just then, the wheel started turning with a jerk, and she was tossed a bit. Instead of placing her hand on his shoulder, she'd reached out to steady herself and was now hugging him. They sat there, stunned for a moment, until Naruto suddenly wrapped his arms around her and pressed his cheek to hers. To Yasu, he seemed tense, as if the last time he had tried hugging someone like this he'd been punched. (Way to go Sakura… how could you punch our knucklehead ninja? I bear no grudge to Sakura)

A sketching noise was heard and Naruto glanced up over Yasu's shoulder; Jiraiya had a clear view into the basket and was glancing from Naruto and Yasu to a notepad. Yasu sensed it, and they both immediately jumped apart, wobbling the basket, and Naruto caught Yasu so she could sit back down. The wheel stopped for Naruto and Yasu this time, and they jumped out and waited, irritated, for their sensei.

"What was with the notes?" Yasu confronted Jiraiya as he stepped off the ride. Naruto, arms folded by Yasu's side, nodded.

"Nothing, nothing!" Jiraiya smirked and walked around the twosome. Naruto and Yasu tackled him as one, determined for an answer. Yasu felt an odd sensation… as if she and Naruto had decided on talking him together… but they couldn't have, not without talking.

Jiraiya sat up, shaking his head. The rope that tied Yasu and Naruto together was wound about his arms and tied them to his body. Yasu and Naruto stood triumphantly on either side of him, keeping the ropes taught. The sage sighed.

"Alright, alright… truth be told, I'm writing the sequel to my latest novel. You two are inspiration for the main characters!" Yasu and Naruto faltered, and flushes started forming on their cheeks. "It's a love story, about a young couple, discovering the trials and games of love!" Jiraiya continued, happily explaining the whole story to the two now-disturbed and irritated teens. He grinned at them, and something in the grin made them tighten the rope. Jiraiya disappeared in a poof and reappeared behind Naruto and a clone behind Yasu.

"What do you think of my story?"

"If you could break free the whole time, why bother explaining it to us?!" Naruto shouted and spun on Jiraiya behind him, trying to get a punch in somewhere, but Jiraiya held him at bay, mostly. Yasu felt uncomfortable, and wanted to go find another game or ride or something.

"Come on, Naruto. Let's go see what's in the round tent we saw from the Ferris wheel." He immediately paused, mid punch, and Jiraiya tossed him off easily. They all walked over to the said tent and walked inside. Immediately, a voice called to them.

"Yasu! Naruto! Come, come! I can't wait for this, come, come, come!" A homely elderly woman called to the two, and they grudgingly obeyed. There were three cushions sat out already, and a fire going in the center. The woman threw a few more sticks onto the fire and sat down on the far side. They all sat with a sweeping gesture from the lady.

"Uhm… I don't mean to be rude, but, who are you? What do you want with me, and Naruto! How do you know us?"

"Weren't you drawn here?" The woman asked, as if it were the most natural thing to come here. Yasu looked down, slightly embarrassed.

"The roof was colorful, is all…" The woman shook her head, for some reason making Yasu and Naruto feel ashamed.

"Jiraiya! Long time no see!" The woman addressed him for the first time. He jumped, then squinted at her.

"Kiri? Is this where you've gone? Working at a fair! Haha, good for you!" He grinned at Kiri, and they rejoiced for a short while, leaving Naruto and Yasu baffled.

"Well, time to get to it! Naruto, Yasu, hand me… your hands!" Kiri reached through the flames and pulled their hands into the fire. They flinched, but the flames weren't burning them at all for some reason.

"Pardon me, but I still don't now what you do, or who you are." Kiri, however, seemed to be in a trance, staring at their hands. Jiraiya answered for her.

"Yasu, this is Kiri. She was my friend when I was growing up in the Hidden Leaf village, and an outcast for her abilities in fortune telling! I can see she's honed her abilities, now. She was shy, and quiet; her family was mostly the same. They were all odd, to the villagers anyway, and disappeared, the whole lot of 'em, which was only five or six people, really. There fortune telling abilities are part of a Kekkei Genkai. Her predictions were pretty accurate, and so she didn't like me very much." He laughed, and the twosome rolled their eyes.

"My my… such intertwined destinies… and such **power** to shape them… I've hardly seen such powerful wills before… You two shall definitely become strong, and you shall have need to. A far greater power is at work in your lives, and you will have to grow immensely, to far greater power than you currently have, which is already much. It is very cloudy, because you have such power of change. A great threat looms, and victory will be sweet, but difficult; I say this first because there is a great chance for failure.

"Yasu, you shall have a powerful rival, with potential to become an ally. Naruto, your dream will take you far… very far, yes… but I cannot tell if it will be completed. You shall both help out what is precious to you, and therefore become exalted with what it is. Much travel is quite likely, but it will be fruitless; remember this before taking any long journeys. Also… life will become overly complex for the two of you… remember, if there are conflicts in the future, be straight with each other, and it shall be resolved. That is all I am able to say for sure."

Yasu and Naruto sat still, trying to take in the information. Naruto yawned.

"I've never really put much faith into the psychic stuff." Yasu nodded. Kiri let go of their hands, and the fire immediately grew hot, and they pulled their hands out of the flames, cooling them down.

"Alright, ignore it if you wish, but just ask Jiraiya, it comes true. By the way, yours was so broad, it would probably come true for just about anyone." Naruto and Yasu resisted saying that only proved their point. "You're dismissed, I have some catching up to do." She might as well have never seen Yasu and Naruto before in her life when they interrupted her conversation with Jiraiya to get the picnic dinner he carried.

"I'm glad to be out of there…" Naruto laid out on his back on a grassy hillside as Yasu unpacked the food, cheerfully taking out two lunchboxes and chopsticks. Naruto turned his head sideways and his stomach growled as Yasu opened a box and the onigiri and ramen scent drifted to him. There were dry noodles with flavoring, as well as a pear and two onigiri per lunchbox, and three canned fruit juices. Yasu rolled one over to Naruto and ate her pear happily as she heated some water with her chakra and poured it into the dry noodles' section.

"Food!" Naruto rolled to his side, but didn't get up, feeling to content where he was. The sky was turning red and Yasu glanced over at Naruto. He was watching her and smiled when she looked at him. She stopped in mid-chew of her pear, and started blushing. Naruto sat up and took his own pear, and they ate silently, waiting for the ramen. When it was done, Naruto tossed his pear, half eaten, aside. Yasu glanced at him, disappointed.

"You never throw away good food." She said, and handed him the pear. He looked at it, then at Yasu.

"Alright, but you go ahead and eat some, I want to finish my ramen first." Yasu looked at the fruit, stunned. Eat off someone else's food? Well… ok, if it was a friend. She ate half of what was left, feeling weird but oddly cheerful as she ate right over where Naruto had bitten. She set it down in his lunchbox and started on her ramen as Naruto finished his.

A few minutes later, Naruto and Yasu had finished their pears and ramen, and were ready for 'dessert', onigiri. Yasu laid down next to Naruto on the hillside and they watched the sky change color, unable to see the sun because it was on the other side of the hill, but the clouds in front of them were turning magnificent golds, purples and pinks.

"Could you hand me my rice?" Naruto asked, and Yasu dropped an onigiri in his head. She laughed as he sat up, then stopped as he grinned at her and shielded her onigiri as she was tackled. Naruto's momentum took them down the hill, which was fine, for a while; it was grassy and soft, but it was a giant riverbank. Yasu pulled out a kunai, though, and dug it into the ground. They came to a stop, and she took Naruto's arm and, using chakra in her arm, threw him back up the riverbank. When he landed, Yasu stood above him already, eating her onigiri and grinning.

"Here." She handed him her other onigiri, and he gratefully took it. They ate in silence, and as the sky got darker, it got colder. Yasu curled up next to Naruto, feeling content, and she took a sip of her juice. Naruto grinned at her, and she smiled back, then they both looked away, disappointed. When it was dark and some crickets were chirping, the remains of the dinner were piled by the bag they came in, and Yasu was asleep with her head on Naruto's chest. He had one arm around her, and the other behind his head, and watched the stars for a bit before drifting off.

Jiraiya walked up to them and sat down, briefly taking out his notepad and writing softly in it. He then lifted both genin and placed them on a blanket, never moving them from their position. Kiri came after him shortly, and the two carried Naruto and Yasu to a hotel where they were to spend the night. Kiri departed and Jiraiya disposed of the dinner leftovers, then fell asleep grinning at the couple who slept soundly on the floor mat next to him.

_Won't they have a surprise tomorrow morning… if they don't roll over, that is. _

**Sorry, my writing SUC#ed for that last part… well, I had a muse for most of this chapter, but it's gone like a freight train, gone like Yesterday, gone like a soldier in the Civil war, bang bang… yeah… crude, but it popped into my head. Also: Naruto and Yasu have earned the title the 'twosome'. I couldn't be any more proud. They might earn some more titles soon… Heheheh…. Ooh, suspense!!!**


	13. At Rope's End!

**©2007 Ekonika (S.N.R.)**

**Disclaimer: Kyaa!!! I've got Ideas!!! I can't wait to write this chapter! No, wait… it was the NEXT chapter… well, this one'll be GREAT too! I don't own Naruto.**

**Chapter 13: At Rope's End!**

A loud yawn shattered the still of morning; Jiraiya stretched and looked over to the two sleeping teens next to him. Wait a minute… where were they? He jumped up and looked around, finding all their stuff packed and gone. His own belongings were in the corner, all folded and ready to go. He opened the door once dressed, with his belongings in tow, and nearly tripped over his rope.

Naruto stood on one side of the door, arms folded, and Yasu on the other with one hand on her hip, the other around her stuff. They were looking away from each other before, but now they glared at Jiraiya. Well, at least had irritated stares.

"Ero-sennin! What were you up to last night?" Jiraiya gave each of them a return look, just as stubborn.

"What business is it of yours? I was just catching up with an old friend, for once. I didn't even pursue any of my habits."

"No, not that! I couldn't care less what you were doing last night, but putting us in the _same bed?_ What were you thinking?" Yasu said, and Jiraiya learned the root of the twosome's current issue.

"Well, unless you two were going to _do_ anything, there's no problem, is there?" That morning, though, Naruto had woken up curled around Yasu. They'd been calm about it and slowly jumped away from each other, blushing slightly, before figuring out the situation and packing for Jiraiya. The toad sage saw it in their eyes and laughed.

"Let's get to the village, I want to go back and train some more." Naruto started off, bringing Yasu with him. Jiraiya took a breath and chuckled, then kept up with the young ones.

They reached the village easily and Jiraiya sat down once they reached a bench.

"Go train. Just be back by sunset, it's Friday. Oh, and Yasu, keep in mind your mission this weekend. Don't get too worn out. It is a high-level mission, mind you. Oh! That's it! You two, go apply for as many D-rank missions as you can, the more the better. Meet me back here, an hour BEFORE sunset, though. I just remembered your mission starts a half-hour before daybreak."

Naruto and Yasu walked off to the main training ground, everyone recognizing the rope between them now, and ignoring it. In fact, Kiba and Neji challenged Naruto and Yasu to a two-on-two battle. It actually went surprisingly well; Naruto and Yasu soon discovered all limits and benefits of the rope, and while they battled, they communicated easily in a split second what to do, without even thinking or _talking._ When the battle ended (Naruto and Yasu won… by a little luck… hey, it was a 'no injury' battle) (want detail of the battle? If so, put it in your review. I'm not planning on writing it, but thought you might like to read it.) the twosome thought back on it and realized they _had_ been talking without talking.

'_Yasu… we can talk! Without having to use chakra or our voices!'_

'_I noticed… I wonder if this is what the training was for… want to go get some ramen? It's lunchtime, and we'll be better at training if we have content stomachs.'_

"Of course!" Naruto said out loud, and people around him looked at him oddly.

'_Naruto, don't speak out LOUD, you'll look like you're having a conversation with yourself, and I'm tied to you, remember. Be considerate of my reputation!'_

'_But you don't care about your reputation.'_

'_I know, I was just trying to keep you from looking foolish.'_

''_Of course', then.'_

'_Much better.'_ Yasu and Naruto kept talking all the way to Ichiraku ramen, and they both had a filling portion, and paid for their own food. Afterwards, they spent the afternoon training with shuriken and Akira. Yasu spent a lot of time with Naruto and Akira, because they were who she would miss most on her mission.

During shuriken training, when Naruto still had twenty or so shuriken to throw, Yasu felt odd, like she was being watched. A quick look behind her proved it; Gaara sat at the edge of the training area, and didn't bother to look away when Yasu met his eyes. Naruto came up to Yasu, asking her if something was wrong in their new silent language. She just kept staring, captivated by the sand ninja, who brought his hand to his mouth, making a symbol. Naruto looked in Gaara's direction, but he disappeared in a whirl of sand.

'_Nothing. Let's get the shuriken from the target.'_ Naruto shrugged it off and walked happily alongside Yasu.

They went to the mission area, and Tsunade was surprised to see them there.

"What could you two be up to now?" She watched Naruto and Yasu carefully.

"We just want some D-rank missions, because Yasu doesn't have many yet." Yasu nodded, agreeing with Naruto.

"Alright… I only have three D-Rank missions for now, though."

"We'll Take 'Em!" Naruto put his hand down on the table, drawing attention to the area. Iruka, who was on the opposite side of the room, looked up. Yasu sensed the familiar attention and looked up at him, surprised.

"Iruka!" She stared politely, and Iruka grinned as Naruto saw him and started waving. He gave the twosome a wave before they left for their missions.

It was nothing much, just weeding a garden and babysitting, and dog-walking. When Naruto and Yasu arrived at the garden one, the lady looked him over and shook her head.

"Not you again…" Yasu looked back and forth, confused.

"Don't worry, miss, I won't tear up your herbs this time." The lady sighed, and looked at Yasu.

"Keep him in line, teach him which are the herbs, please. You look good and sensible." She left, and They set to work, next to each other so Yasu could tell Naruto the difference. After the one flowerbed was completed, they split up to get the other two, and Naruto only got a couple small, unnecessary herbs. The lady inspected the work, and tipped them.

The dog walking went better, Yasu got a huge dog that pulled at the leash at first, but she got it in line. Naruto took on two regular-sized animals. Soon, All that remained was the babysitting. Yasu disliked kids, usually. They were too… loud…, but Naruto seemed to like it some. He had enough energy, anyway, and Yasu did as well.

'_Thank goodness it was only for an hour.'_ Yasu thought to Naruto as they went to turn in the missions. The kids were well-behaved… until their mom left. They wanted everything she said they couldn't have, and ended up playing a board game that had a loud popper-dice-roller-thing in the middle of the board, and when the mom came back home, Yasu thanked her and left, barely remembering the money. They told Tsunade all missions were completed, and she logged them in and crossed off the missions.

"Thank you two. Don't forget, tomorrow before sunrise."

That evening, Jiraiya was nowhere to be found. The students searched hastily, although they dreaded the passing of time, for it meant they would be separated. Jiraiya was found shortly, and the teens had had enough time to become depressed about the situation: a whole of two weeks had sunk in.

"Are you guys gonna be alright?" Jiraiya asked once they had carried him from the bar and sat him down. His head was clearing quickly, and Yasu thought he might have formed a jutsu for that purpose, and giggled at the thought. Naruto chuckled when she told him, though, because boys don't giggle, they chuckle. (… lol…) Jiraiya made a handsign, and the rope vanished. Naruto and Yasu looked around in disbelief, and walked to the very edge of where the rope had let them; they paused a moment, then jumped that last step. They were free from the rope!

"Now, like I told you," Jiraiya was all seriousness now, "lesson one was teamwork. You have that down, I can tell. Lesson two was the main skill I was trying to teach you: Mind-speaking. I'm pretty sure you have that down by now, too."_ 'Right Yasu? Naruto?'_ He spoke to them both, and they stared at him. _'Well, reply if you hear me.'_

'_Yeah, I hear you.'_

'_Yes sir.'_

'_Great. This is a very restricted technique, Developed by a close friend of mine. I learned it, and I'm liable to be the only one besides you two that knows it. Only a select few may learn, and I began to sense you two could learn. It requires an ultimate quality: love. Now, I'm not saying you love each other, but that you feel the emotion, in its truest form. Now, to be able to talk to someone, they have to have one superior trait: the drive to protect. It's what we like to call 'The Will of Fire' in Konoha._

'_Now, no need to get into detail. You have learned the technique to a point of mastery in just a few short days. It took me a month, and I knew what I was doing. This is a new technique, so there are many details that need to be researched, but I don't think it was just a coincidence with you two, which is why I decided to keep the rope on for so short a time.'_ Naruto and Yasu looked at each other, then at the hermit, and broke into a smile.

"So, what was the third lesson?" Yasu asked.

"Oh, nothing. Just that you would be role models for my book. Now that the rope's gone, I still need to be able to track you two, but that can be done after the chunin exams. Now, off with the both of you, Yasu needs her rest. Her mission is classified a B-rank after all."

The two walked to Yasu's home in silence, even in their minds. When they arrived, Hiroko saw their mood.

"What's the matter, Yasu?"

"Oh! Nothing, I'm just going on a mission tomorrow, I'll be gone for a while." She sighed. Hiroko folded her arms.

"No good moping! Enjoy it tonight! Spend time with everyone!" Yasu thought on Hiroko's words, and understood them when she saw Naruto packing his stuff up. He dropped his sleeping mat in the corner, rolled up. He was folding his clothes when Yasu spoke.

"Want to stay over tonight?" She knew his answer already, he practically glomped her.

"Yeah! Otherwise I'll probably sleep past your briefing." His sudden brightening helped the atmosphere, and Akira came trotting in upon hearing Naruto's voice. The small room became crowded, but Naruto was thrilled that Akira was inside. "You let him in?"

"Of course, he's well trained. And intelligent to boot." Akira snorted happily and stuffed his head against Yasu, knowing she would be leaving by the way she felt; the slight undercurrent of sadness. Naruto suddenly gasped. "What?" Yasu looked around for danger.

"Akira… can talk." Yasu looked at Akira, surprised.

"Funny, he's never talked to anyone but me before." The trio settled down for the night, Naruto making himself comfortable on Yasu's bed. (N-'No way I'm kicking you out of your bed.' Y-'You won't be, I'm inviting you.' N-'With you?' Y-'Yeah, like Jiraiya said, we aren't gonna do anything. It's not a big deal.') Yasu came in from the field after spending some time just laying on Akira's back. Akira followed her in and watched as she climbed in the opposite side of the bed from Naruto. He carefully positioned himself on the floor so he was able to watch over Yasu, and she thanked him silently.

That night, the trio fell asleep in each others' comfort and companionship.

Short chapter… whatever, I want to write the next one. Well, I've got to go feed the boys! (Dogs, of course!) Will be back for the exciting installment of Chapter 14, where you may find the answers to these: Who hired Yasu? What will she be doing for TWO WEEKS? What classifies it as 'B' rank? What parting gift will Naruto have for her? XD Well, it'll probably all fit into one sentence, so don't get too hung up on it.


	14. Battle Strength!

**©2007 Ekonika (S.N.R.)**

**Disclaimer: I…Just…Saw… the-ninja-clash-in-the-land-of-snow-movie-and-it-was-awesome-and-I-can't-wait-to-see-it-again-because-of-course-I-watched-it-both-times-and-it-was-awesome-but-the-princess-got-on-my-nerves-a-bit, and… and… Yay. Loved it. Except for the commercials. Well, this chapter will be good to begin with, and only get better. I don't own Naruto.**

**Me notes: (I be Irish fer a bit, with respect ter me ol' buddie, who be movin' ter elsewhere.) If ye want ter be seein' the next Chappie, ye better be reviewin'! I kin read it meself, don't ya know, I needen't upload it fer ye all. I shall be postin' new Chappies after I get three reviews per chappie. If ye be one te be reviewin, an ol' Irish blessing upon ye:**

**For every wound, a balm. **

**For every sorrow, a cheer.**

**For every storm, a calm.**

**For every thirst, a beer! **

**Now, I'm not drinking age or anything, nor 'ave I ever tasted a beer (…), but there ye 'ave it. Enjoy!**

**Chapter 14: Battle Strength**

The soft rustling of covers almost echoed in the stillness as Yasu rolled over and blinked until the bright blue eyes swam into focus. She stared at them for a while, content, and sat up, rubbing her head. Naruto sat up next to her, and they didn't seem to mind that they had been in the same bed. After all, nothing had happened, and it was great to wake up and see your favorite set of eyes looking at you. Yasu quickly prepared for her day, hardly looking up when Naruto walked past her, wearing only night-shorts. She finished in the bathroom and passed Naruto on her way out of it. Well, she would have passed him, but they took the same path, and were half-asleep.

Yasu put her hands up to keep from crashing too hard into Naruto, and he caught her arms. They looked at each other for a second, and Yasu took a deep breath to steady herself from the sudden strong sadness. She wrapped her arms around Naruto's bare torso, and he hugged her back, concerned.

'_What is it, Yasu?'_

'_Nothing… I… … I just will miss the village for a while. No, not so much the village… Akira. And you.'_ Naruto tightened his grip slightly and rocked back and forth in what he hoped was a comforting way. Yasu felt off-put with the rocking, so she slowly adjusted it so it was soothing. They stood, content for the moment, in each others' arms. Yasu sighed and they dropped their arms. The sky outside turned grey, and a large black silhouette stood in the window.

Akira came inside, having gone out early already. He nuzzled Yasu and she carefully pet and brushed him. When Naruto finally came out of the bathroom, they were all fully awake. Yasu had all of her travel stuff packed, and in a backpack. She lifted it onto Akira's back and sent him around to meet Naruto and herself in front of the building. His head lowered, he obliged.

Naruto walked alongside Yasu through the hall way, and found her hand. He squeezed it reassuringly, and Yasu smiled, but it didn't reach her eyes. When they arrived out front, Akira stood gloomily on the side, senses knowing what was going on.

'_I'm not going away forever, I know, but I still won't like leaving you two.'_

'_I'll miss you too.'_

'_Don't worry, I'll be good for the tailed one.'_ Akira said, and Yasu was confused. Tailed one? Naruto didn't have any tails. He also looked like he hadn't heard Akira's words. She forgot it and mounted Akira, determined to enjoy the ride. Naruto swung up behind her. He wrapped his arms around Yasu, with slight hesitation. Yasu thought he must still be expecting to be punched, but, really, it was what cheered her up the most. He put his head on her shoulder and snuggled against her. She felt a cool shiver run up her spine, and leaned back into Naruto's embrace. She hugged Naruto's arms that reached around her chest.

The briefing area came closer, but they were still a few blocks away. She suddenly felt strong confliction behind her that went deeper than shyness. Naruto leaned forward and tentatively kissed Yasu. He pulled back slowly, content, but Yasu felt something lingering on his mind. She could hardly think about it, though, because where the corner of his lips brushed hers, it tingled with fiery intensity, making her head light. Before she could reply at all, they came upon the briefing area.

They came upon the briefing area on a prancing stallion, flustered. Yasu dismounted after Naruto, and he helped her down. They didn't avoid each other's eyes, but glanced quickly away. Yasu slung her pack on her back and walked up to Tsunade, trailed by her best friends, the two she loved. (Not IN love, she just loved them. DIFFERENCE! You know, Naruto's love for his friends/teachers that confounds Gaara… speaking of him…)

"Great timing Yasu. Your client is ready to go. Any questions? Ask now, before we send him in." Yasu felt Naruto stiffen as Tsunade said 'he'. Tsunade continued before Yasu could sort out a concern.

"You will be on the road for four days, traveling at about horseback pace, then you will spend a week at your destination, assisting there, and then guarding on the way back. Sleeping arrangements have been provided by your client; you'll have a tent that's weather resistant. For food, whatever you catch on the road, and meals will be provided mostly at the destination. You will be accompanied by three other shenobi. That is, not including your client himself. They've already been briefed. However, they won't be able to accompany you the whole way; two will take you halfway where you will meet up with the third. Well, that's food, shelter, and who you'll be traveling with. Pay is irrelevant, but you'll receive 30,000 yen (About $250.00. A LOT). Send in the Client and the others!"

Yasu turned towards a door that slid open easily, and standing there was Gai-sensei. Naruto grew angry and Yasu held him back with a soft touch to his chest, although she wasn't pleased at all. Gai, however, walked through the doorway and out of the room. Akira huffed in surprise, and Yasu looked back at the doorway. Gaara stood there for a second, then walked up to Yasu. She felt she was being inspected, although Gaara only watched her face. She was soon sure of it.

"You've gotten enough rest. That's good." On either side of Gaara in the doorway Shikamaru and Temari appeared. They approached Yasu and looked her over.

"This is the one we have to drag along?" Temari said, but Shikamaru seemed almost pleased. Naruto stood still, and Yasu had to turn to him to see he was happier than he'd been with Gai, but mostly impartial.

'_Is there something wrong?' _Yasu asked him.

'_Nah, I just didn't think it'd be Gaara. Well, at least you'll be safe from most shenobi, especially if you stick close to him.'_

'_Why? What's his specialty?'_

'_His sand is an auto-shield. You won't have much to do.'_ Yasu felt Naruto relax, and cautiously viewed Gaara and the female sand ninja. She inspected Temari, seeing her as a strong individual, with a lot of intelligence; a match for Shikamaru, surely. They did seem to enjoy each other's company. Temari seemed to see something she liked; she grinned, and a laugh escaped her lips.

"Look at you, Naruto! Almost acting like a normal person! Is this your doing, Yasu?" Yasu considered it. Had Naruto changed? A little, she supposed.

"Well, you'll have plenty of time to get acquainted on the road. Don't be late; say your farewells, Yasu." Tsunade interrupted, ushering them out for the next mission.

Once at the gate, Yasu hugged Naruto, then Akira, and lingered with her horse. She hadn't been separated from him since she found him. Sure, she'd been away, but not where she wouldn't be able to reach him. She patted Akira on the neck, and he neighed after her, but Yasu kept her face bright and happy: a shenobi shouldn't show emotion. She looked back once, and Naruto sat on top of the village gates. The sun had just come up, and the light made Naruto almost glow with the warm light. He waved frantically, as if she wouldn't see him, but she waved back. Akira reared and neighed, saying bye in his own terms. She grinned and turned back to her mission.

"So, Yasu. How have you been?" Shikamaru spoke.

"Pretty good, actually. I've been training, and I've mastered a couple new techniques. Also, I'm starting to develop my own jutsu; so far, I've only learned some simple things, like transforming into an animal instead of a person."

"Sounds good… just don't get carried away with the jutsu's power; I remember someone who had. Luckily, the village was able to take him out. He did manage to do a great deal of damage, even killing the Third Hokage. He's not exactly dead, just… he can't do jutsu anymore. Gone, as they say. Maybe they've finished him off. Have you learned anything else? New techniques? I'm curious to see how you'd do in a real battle."

"Oh, in a real battle I'll be fine, as long as my opponent is a chunin. I don't know how I'd do against a jonin or higher. But, I've been considering… studying med. I've always sort of wanted… to be able to heal." She said it with difficulty, remembering her past. "I have the basics down, but I know there's got to be something I can do with chakra." Temari looked over at Yasu from the other side of Shikamaru. Gaara walked ahead a few steps, and looked back, out of the corner of his eye.

"Don't you know your Hokage is a medical specialist?" Temari asked, and Gaara faced forwards again. Yasu lowered her head.

"I… I didn't know. I wasn't planning on staying long, but I guess I should have known, huh?" Shikamaru laughed and Temari brightened.

"Well, it's good you don't pretend to know what you don't. People like that get on my nerves." We walked in silence for a while, and Yasu sensed her intelligence was inferior to the others'. It made her a little uneasy, but overall she was alright. It was noon when Temari called a lunch break, and they stopped off at the side of the road. Yasu sat, Shikamaru on her right, Temari on the other side of him, and Gaara on her right.

Yasu took out some sushi and onigiri from her pack, and began eating. She tensed as Gaara reached across her lap and took one of her onigiri. He started eating, and for some reason she was too surprised to be upset. Then she realized: Gaara was _eating._ She watched curiously for a minute before returning to her own food. Temari and Shikamaru also seemed to notice Gaara's odd behavior, and were staring at him over their lunches. He paid no attention to them and finished the onigiri. He remained seated and waited for the others.

When they were on the road again, Gaara walked ahead farther, Yasu was a little behind him, and Temari and Shikamaru were back about 20 feet, whispering to each other. Yasu and Gaara both heard, although they gave no impression of it.

"Have you ever seen Gaara eat before? I mean, he's acting like a normal person." Temari whispered.

"Yeah, do you think maybe its Yasu? He seems odd whenever he's around her."

"Hmm… I see… He does always seem to be focused on her; even now you can tell he knows exactly where she is."

"That is odd… has he ever been this focused on anything? It could be bad for her; she's just a genin, right?"

"He's only this focused when he's about to kill. Otherwise, I wouldn't know."

"Do you think maybe he's starting to get feelings? Maybe… he could have taken an interest in Yasu because… well, she's a girl... and he's a guy?" Shikamaru put it as vaguely as he could, but Gaara looked back and glared irritably. Shikamaru and Temari fell silent. The first day passed without incident, and Yasu just finished her dinner of an apple with sashimi and wasabe. Gaara had passed on dinner, and Temari was scouting the area.

"Here's your shelter." Gaara announced unceremoniously. He held out his hand and the sand formed into a tent. "It opens when you walk through it, otherwise it stays closed, but there are air-holes in it. So you won't suffocate in your sleep."

Yasu poked her hand and head into the shelter, and the sand did indeed move out of her way, closing right around her. It was certainly neat, but… inconvenient. Why was she more protected than the one she was hired to protect?

"Er… no thanks. I'll be fine in the night on my own; I rather enjoy it. I have slept outside for about half of my life, and the city has made me miss it."

She climbed up a tree after watch was decided; she had midnight to three am. After gathering a few branches and making a sort of hammock from them, Yasu curled up and had a great night's sleep, not realizing how much she'd missed the true wilderness. Her shift went by without the slightest concern, and she woke in the morning refreshed and cheerful.

Temari and Shikamaru watched as Yasu began her training for the day: she held water aloft with her chakra, and carefully placed her feet on top of it. She was not only walking on water, but air. For the first few tries, Yasu lost control of the water, but for the next hour, she had it down perfectly.

"I invented that one: after I learned to walk on water, the idea popped into my head. The only problem is it takes u pa lot of chakra." Temari nodded, looking a little impressed. After a few more minutes, everyone felt a calm silence. Even the animals that were around seemed content to be quiet and watch in awe as the shenobi passed their homes. Only Yasu was uncomfortable; she felt something in the air, but not: it was an instinct she'd gotten from growing up as she did.

A tiny noise resounded, and Yasu looked at the others, startled; she'd recognized the sound of shuriken being released from someone's hand. The others heard it as the shuriken whistled through the air and they dodged. Yasu leapt into the air and threw shuriken in the direction the others had come from; her weapons landed with soft 'thunk's in the dirt. As she descended towards her allies, she looked back and saw sand fall to the earth around Gaara, shuriken stuck in it. They converged back-to-back, facing an unseen enemy; the tall grass and bushes around them were all suddenly dangers.

Three foreign shenobi appeared on the path opposite Yasu's group.

"Who are you? Why do you attack?" Yasu called, knowing she was making a target of herself by speaking. They swayed menacingly and scoffed.

"Like we'd say." They were obviously concealing their identities, but each wore a headband with a three-pronged spike on it that reminded Yasu of barbed wire. Something about them said 'Jonin', although Yasu wasn't quite sure what. One thing, though: They were NOT going to be easy, and weren't looking to negotiate. The enemy ninja swayed back wards, then bolted, weapons drawn, at the group.

They settled into stances and prepared to defend. Yasu's ear caught a slight tremor in the air and flicked behind her; an enemy behind! She was sure of it. Yasu ducked low to the ground, dodging a kunai the enemy held. Yasu placed her foot securely on the side of the sneak-enemy's foot, then used the opening she had left to send a punch at her, causing her to trip over Yasu's foot and go flying. The enemy female tumbled a bit, but quickly regained her feet. Yasu charged with her own kunai, determined to prove herself in this mission.

(Enemy Kunoichi: We shall call her… hmm… Kare-Wa's younger sister, and a jonin, whereas Kare-Wa was only a chunin. Her name shall be Mai –means 'dance'-, after her shenobi style.)

Mai threw her kunai and Yasu dodged; kunai and shuriken were useless this early in any ninja battle. Yasu soon saw why the kunai were thrown; Mai came at her with two short swords. Yasu dodged to the best of her ability, using speed, but she could only dodge; there was no room for an attack. Yasu leapt back and made hand signs. A small section of earth turned to water, right in front of Yasu, so when Mai charged her, her feet sank. Mai took off as Yasu attacked, throwing more shuriken that were easily blocked.

Mai appeared behind Yasu, who ducked and spun, lunging away. Mai grinned and backed into the tall grass like a shadow. Yasu looked all around, then simply listened. She heard Mai: every step, every shuffle of clothing. Once she'd pinpointed her location, Yasu pulled her own jutsu. She made ten water clones and they ran in opposite directions. Mai made clones and they took down every single Yasu, with the double swords. When the last clone vanished, it was Mai's turn to be confused: Yasu was no where in the area, it seemed.

(By the way… they'd split into one-on-one fights, Gaara, Shika, Tem… yeah, they all have one opponent. Why no shadow possession? We'll see in a minute. Shika can't go freezing everybody, where'd the action be? This is Yasu's fight, anyway. I can write the others' if you want… but only if you want.)

She took quiet steps to where Yasu had made the clones and examined the area, kneeling. She stood and called out.

"Show yourself, _ninja no uma _(Japanese for 'Horse Ninja')! I know you are here! You cannot hide, you are too inexperienced! Our master was very specific: Kill you before any seals took place. Now you're trapped!" Yasu stood from a crouch, to the right of Mai. Two other Yasus stood as well, and spoke.

"So you're not after Gaara?" Each Yasu disappeared as she was run through with the swords.

"Stop playing your fool games! I'm more powerful than you give me credit for! What could that sand ninja possibly hold for us? No, we're after a bigger prize: you!"

"What could I have that you're after? If it's Akira, he's not anywhere near me. In fact, he and I have been completely separated." Yasu stood on a bush, showing herself finally. Although she had watched and calculated the sword attacks, it didn't prepare her enough; Mai charged and swirled, like a dance, and Yasu was hardly able to get out of the way; Mai was using taijutsu now.

"No, we're not after the horse. Have you no idea of your bloodlines? You are quite dangerous indeed; master must have you destroyed. I can say no more, I might have spoken too much already." She said this in between swings of the blades, and was laughing. Yasu, however, was quickly wearing out. She couldn't just keep running, already the blades had nicked her a few times. She used her energy to be aware of everything around her, and it did take a lot of energy. As she flew through the air in another dodge, she made more hand signs.

"Water Jutsu! Art of the Springs!" Water burst out of the ground in dangerously strong jets, aimed for Mai. She managed to dodge them, but the offensive had turned. Yasu took out some special daggers, made for back-hand slashes. She surrounded them with chakra to make them burning hot and lunged at Mai, who was off-guard. Yasu got a few scratches in, but was quickly repelled. One her way away, Yasu managed to disarm one of Mai's swords and held it as if it were her own weapon. When she landed, she froze in alarm.

"Too slow."

_Thunk._

Naruto fell to one knee, clutching his right side. It felt painful, like someone had stabbed him clear through. The feeling dissolved as quickly as it had come, and he panted. He'd been training, when all of a sudden he saw Yasu: from Yasu's own eyes. He felt an incredible sense of danger at that moment that waned with the pain.

"Yasu!" He took off running, getting a couple stares from the few others out training there. Suddenly, he was pulled up short by his collar.

"Easy, Naruto. So you felt it too?" Jiraiya looked in the direction Naruto had charged. "Yasu has been wounded, but there's nothing we can do from here. No use leaving, either. You know you're needed here. Tell me, how bad was the pain to you?" Naruto didn't bother looking at his restrainer; he grit his teeth and forced himself to answer calmly.

"It felt like I've been stabbed through." Jiraiya gave a small tug to Naruto's collar, trying to ease his pulling.

"This could be more serious than I thought; you have a stronger tie to her, so you'll know the extent of the damage if she's injured again. I just felt a twinge." Naruto growled at the horizon, then let out an exasperated sigh. He forced himself to get back to training, throwing the shuriken extra-hard, so they split the tree bark a foot in either direction. Jiraiya shook his head. _Poor kid… must be concerned. I know I sure am, it must be harder for him._

Yasu looked down; she'd been able to move, barely, but a sword was protruding from her side. Mai had sent a clone out, waiting for Yasu's guard to fall. She'd snuck up behind her with those dangerous swords. Yasu had been able to move just enough that the sword wouldn't kill her. She gasped from the shock, and **grinned**. Her body had already begun to paralyze the wound. Yasu leapt, but when she landed, it wasn't without staggering. Her blood hit the ground, and she tried not to think of the wound.

Someone, somewhere, shouted, but she didn't care, really. She looked up at Mai and charged, head-on, knowing this frontal attack wouldn't work. Now at least, she knew where Mai was. She threw almost all her shuriken at Mai, and brought up the fireball jutsu as she ran. The fire flew straight and Mai got singed, having been too surprised to really dodge, until the last second.

Yasu stood still, grinning. Mai scoffed.

"Do you think you can seriously win?" Yasu could hear the hesitation and almost fear in her voice. She knew this fight was won; Mai would realize any second now… "What, aren't you going to attack? Or do I have to- Wha… what?!" Yasu struggled to remain standing and held Mai in place. A second after Mai realized the crystalline spikes of water in the air, thin enough to appear invisible, Yasu dropped them to the earth and let the ice-splinters melt. Mai stood still, apparently frightened to have been caught so off guard. Yasu knew better, and lifted her head.

"Good job, Yasu, go take a break." Shikamaru held Mai's shadow, keeping her rooted to the earth. "My opponent took me longer to beat than I originally thought, sorry. It appears you've been injured." Yasu shook her head and walked forwards, ignoring the dull ache in her side, but she couldn't ignore the slow drip, although the wound had mostly closed. Shikamaru watched her as if disappointed; at least until Yasu was close enough to him that he could see the wound.

"Were you run through? Yasu!" Yasu walked up to Mai and looked her in the eye before taking a good swing at her, sending her into the dirt.

"That's for my side, stupid." Yasu panted, having stretched her injury. Shikamaru took the shadow possession away right before Yasu swung: she would have hit him too. Mai had been knocked out by the square hit. He ran up to Yasu and lifted her good side's arm over his shoulder.

"Step away from her, I've got it." Gaara walked up, and Shikamaru backed up hastily but gently. Yasu stood, irritated that they were focusing so much on her when they should be tying the enemy. At least, until she realized Temari had done the work.

"I'll be fine to travel by tomorrow, don't worry." Yasu said, mustering a strong voice. Nevertheless, Gaara walked right up to her and smoothly lifted her into his arms.

_Wow… he's… pretty strong. I like his personality. Looks dark, but is really only after good intentions. But I wish I'd get a little more respect… I've been injured before, almost worse than this._ The wound pulsed with Yasu's heartbeat, and she felt a twinge of sharp pain. _So my body's paralysis is wearing off._ Yasu sighed, too irritated to protest. The corner of Gaara's mouth twitched upwards as Yasu sighed in frustration. He formed a waist-high bed of sand and set Yasu on it.

"Hey, I'm not going to just lie here while you do the interrogating! I'll be fine! Let me up!"

"You'd better listen, Gaara, she'll hurt herself more if we try and keep her down." Temari said, irritated. Gaara bent over Yasu and leaned in close to her face, causing her to focus on him.

"Be good, Yasu." She stared at him for a while, and they fought through their stares; finally, an agreement seemed to be reached, and they both sighed. Yasu leaned back against the sand quietly, and Gaara shifted it into a chair, then moved it so Yasu could stand. He kept it behind her, though, just in case.

They all approached the enemy jonin, and none were surprised when they wouldn't speak.

"Alright… you leave me no choice." Gaara's sand swirled and Yasu felt a sense of foreboding.

"Wait… let me try something." Gaara lowered his hand. "Secret Fear Jutsu!"

Yasu's mind became dark, and she saw swirling images with faces. When she saw Mai's face, it was fiery hazes that appeared, and for the others, nothing really came up. One of the others had a fear of a dark figure upon a skeletal mount- Yasu could see the horse clearly, probably because of her attachment to the creatures, but the rider was dark, all in shadow. She felt terror of the figure, and cut off the jutsu.

"Alright, Mai. Talk, or I'll summon more fire." She glared and looked at her teammates. They nodded, and Yasu's group tensed. Yasu remembered suicide-blank-headband-group, and hoped this wouldn't be a repeat.

"Ok, we're after Yasu and her horse. Those pushovers you defeated earlier, with the blank headbands? The leader was my older brother. We all work for the same- our powerful leader. Master is too wise to be fooled by a mere _Genin_." She glared at Yasu, scoffing. "Even Jonin have no power over master. Master has everything planned; Master knows all of us, to our souls, our deepest desires. Master's followers are all strong, stronger than I, even. Stronger than ANYONE, is Master!!!"

"Well, we don't care how powerful your leader is, we want to know your motive." Temari spun her fan and planted it in the ground before Mai.

"Well, all we know is the Ninja with white shirt, jean-shorts, and the fire village headband, normally in the company of a black stallion, needs to be murdered because of… historical concepts. We weren't told any specifics, but it seems your bloodline is a threat." Mai fell silent and tried to clean a particularly deep scratch Yasu had given her. Gaara stepped forward.

"That's all the information they'll give." He raised his hand and became upset when the spike-band ninja seemed unafraid of his sand, even as it swirled around them. Gaara's fist closed, and the sand compacted. Yasu took a step forward in disbelief as four shapes took off and disappeared through the grass. She took a few steps after them, but Temari held out her fan as a barrier.

"They escaped… but not without injury. Shikamaru and I will hunt them down, you stay here with Gaara. He needs to get to the sand village, and you need medical attention. I'll wrap you quickly." Yasu balked.

"They'll get away! Go catch them, I'll be fine. I know how to treat my wounds." Temari halted, clearly irritated, but disappeared with Shikamaru after the escapees.

Yasu turned to Gaara for a second, looking over him, then turned and walked into the grasses, taking a roll of gauze and medicine from her travel pack. Gaara followed her for a minute before realizing she'd have to remove her shirt. He stood on the other side of a bush, facing away from Yasu and waiting patiently, staring at the scenery. She sucked in her breath as the medicine stung the wound, and got a good assessment of it.

It was incredibly thin, but her organs had remarkably not been punctured. Her muscles and small intestine had been sliced through, but it was a clean stab wound, so the intestine had basically already mended itself back together, not being totally separated. The muscles were healing too, and Yasu thanked no one in particular for her fast healing abilities. She cleaned the wound and applied more medicine, then wrapped it carefully and tightly, to brace the muscles as they healed, and to take the strain off of them.

Yasu pulled her shirt back on and looked at it in disgust. She'd wanted to change her outfit forever; now was her chance. The enemy had a clothing description, so all she needed was to change her clothing. Green seemed suitable; she'd always loved green. Light blue seemed like a dazzling color these days, too, but perhaps it was only Naruto's eyes that made her think so… She shook her head and winced when it shook her side, but walked up to Gaara, feeling worn out yet capable.

"Can you travel?" He asked, and Yasu saw a flash of emotion run across his eyes; it startled her. _No, I won't become like everyone else, thinking Gaara shouldn't show emotion. He's normal, human, like any of us. He is no different! Emotion running through his eyes is as normal as anything! _Yasu berated herself, then nodded.

"I can travel at a slow pace, but I could go faster if I had a horse to ride." Yasu smiled, joking, knowing a horse wouldn't be accessible for her now. Gaara turned to the path and waited for Yasu to move alongside him before walking at an easy pace for her. They walked slowly for a while, and Yasu occasionally stumbled, but whenever Gaara gave her a questioning look she'd ignore it and her step would be a little stronger.

After a particularly bad stumble, Yasu's knees hit the dirt and she threw out her hands to keep from face-planting. It jarred her wound, but suddenly she was off the ground, hanging onto a warm back next to a gourd. Her cheek was pressed against the windswept red hair of the sand village ninja, and he moved along smoothly, easily double the pace he'd been going before. Yasu sighed, giving in, and rested.

Well, took me a LONG time to finish this chapter… YAWN it's late… school tomorrow… must… save… essay to jump drive so I can fix it later… Ok… so, any questions? Comments? (Especially anything about GaarYas? Want opinions! Will be recurring throughout story! Possibly…) Anything? Like… how'd Naruto feel Yasu's pain? Just review. Please. Well, I guess I'd better start the next chapter, but you all won't yell at me if I put it off a day now, will you? I need sleep too. (And I'm growing a life! Just add water!)

Best wishes,

Ekonika

(You know I'm tired when I sign it like a letter…)(It's Sunday night, and I have a Calc test Tuesday… I should stop stalling, huh?)


	15. Sunagakure

**©2007 Ekonika (S.N.R.)**

**Disclaimer: Kyaa!!! I've got Ideas!!! I can't wait to write this chapter! I don't own Naruto. And Actually, I don't have any ideas. For this chapter, anyway. It'll be spur-of –the-moment! Also, I'm going to add something…. Yep, lemme just pull some switches and press a button, and the very characters themselves will appear, to lend criticism and feedback! whirring noise I saw this idea on some other fanfics, and liked it, so it shall be! clinking then an explosion **

**Naruto "Yasu! glomp Good to see you! So, I'll be reviewing, then? Alright! So… where's my ramen you said I'd get for doing this?"**

**Me "Go take this instant ramen and boil some water."**

**Naruto "But… it says 'instant'."**

**explosion number two, Gaara appears**

**Me "Oops, I was trying to get Sakura. Sorry, Gaara!"**

**Gaara "…"**

**Naruto "… Well, I'm going to go make some ramen."**

**Me "Ok then… I'll work on getting Sakura here, go read." .**

**On second thought… Maybe I won't.**

**Chapter 15: Sunagakure**

Cool water splattered to the ground and an indignant noise sounded as Yasu sat up. Her hand clutched her side in pain as her wound was irritated, but she shook her head to clear off the water.

"What was that for?" She stood shakily and looked around, spotting Gaara with an overturned canteen over her head. She shoved it away and walked over to her belongings, which weren't far from her. She rummaged through them, looking for dinner. When she'd found a bento and was happily munching, she finally sat back and figured out where she was, when it was, and why she'd woken up so disgracefully.

"We are camping, you were sleeping on my sand, and it is dusk. I've carried you here, Temari and Shikamaru returned a little while ago, and they have returned to Konoha. They were unable to capture all of the enemy, although they did catch up to them and did away with two. Another shenobi will arrive in the morning, and you should rest." Gaara spoke quietly and gently, as if he understood Yasu's irritation and sorrow. Yasu sighed and put away half of the lunchbox, not so hungry. She looked up when Gaara sat cross-legged by her, with his knee brushing hers. He didn't look at her, but stared into the distance.

"I know you won't want to rest, but I ask you to, as the friend I wish to be." Yasu stared at the closed lunchbox in her hands, suddenly feeling tired.

"If I go to sleep, then when will you sleep?" She glanced at his face, curious, now that his words had sunk in.

"I'll wake you for second shift." Gaara turned to her and met her gaze. Yasu took a blanket out of her pack and laid it out on the earth; she was unfit to even climb a tree, and had to suppress a groan of pain every time the wound was moved. She gathered some firewood and slowly pulled up some chakra to make a smokeless fire and light the tinder. Once the fire was going well, she warmed her hands and layed on half the blanket, pulling the other half over herself.

_How will I travel? I'll only slow them down if I'm this sore by tomorrow… I'll be no good in a battle. _"I'm sorry I'm injured, I should have just been paying attention… I'll do my best to travel tomorrow, but… it would be so much easier if I could ride, if Akira was here… I miss him." _And Naruto…_ Yasu drifted off to sleep remembering when she'd ridden Akira with Naruto and they'd leapt up the waterfall.

Gaara looked over Yasu's sleeping body and reached out for her shoulder, softly resting his hand there. He smiled to himself, and it was an odd smile, for Gaara; he felt warm for once. What was it she'd said, if she could ride? A horse, then. He stood and made a sand barrier about her before walking away.

As the sun came up the next day, Yasu opened her eyes. It was dark, though; a large shadow hovered over her, too big to be a person. It lifted a giant hoof, which came crashing down by Yasu's side. She jumped up and away, landing in a crouch and skidding backwards, slowing herself down with one hand, holding her wound with the other. She saw the huge horse, and ten or so others. She spotted Gaara in confusion, which turned to irritation.

"Why… what's … why didn't you wake me for my shift?"

"Choose your horse, they're a wild herd, which I'm sure will be no problem for you."

"That wasn't my question! Why… I'm hired here, and… I'm just not sleeping tomorrow." Yasu stood and folded her arms, knowing she would sleep that night, but not until her watch was over. She turned her attention to the wild herd corralled by Gaara's sand. The huge horse was the lead stallion, a great big boy, and Yasu looked over him. She passed over him, and most of the good-looking horses. Gaara showed no sign of confusion as Yasu passed the swiftest-looking horse with a shake of her head.

She settled on the second to last horse, a grungy-looking dirt-colored horse, who seemed to glare with every look. Yasu saw she'd been sort of an outcast, and moved in to her side quickly, startling her. The horse reared, and Yasu was caught off-guard for a second as her side made itself remembered again. The grungy horse came down from her rear abruptly and sniffed Yasu's side, curious. The other horses were released as Gaara dropped the barrier, and they took off at a run.

Soon, Yasu's belongings were slung over the wild mare's back, and Yasu sat on horseback easily. She'd brushed the wild mare's coat with her hands and it was a cloudy grey-blue color. Gaara walked alongside the horse, and Yasu was leaning forward onto the horse's neck, playing in her mane happily, but still listening for danger.

"Her name is Cloud. That way, when she goes back to the wild, they'll respect her like shade in the summer, and warmth in the winter. She's had a hard time in that herd." Yasu hadn't had a problem teaching the horse just what she wanted, and when she presented Cloud with an apple from Yasu's uneaten Bento, Cloud was willing to do so.

They traveled for an hour before Yasu sensed something coming. Gaara, then loud followed Yasu's example and prepared for anything. Gaara relaxed, and Yasu stayed tense, although she wasn't prepared to fight anymore; Gaara must know who this 'aura' belonged to. Kankuro arrived and stood in the path before Yasu and Gaara. He nodded to Gaara, who simply watched him acknowledgingly. Kankuro walked up to Yasu and dipped his head slightly.

"Well, so you're the good-looking girl, Gaara's escort? I'm Kankuro, and I'll be relieving you of half your duties. I'll also show you around Suna, if you want." He patted Cloud's neck, and when she turned to bite him, he simply appeared on her other side. Cloud backed up and reared, and Yasu slowly brought her down. Gaara suddenly stood between the horse and Kankuro.

"Let's get going."

The day passed without a single need of caution, and as the sun descended from its high point, the grasses grew sparse, and the air became dry. Yasu had to stop and pull water up from the ground, using her water-jutsu to refill her canteen and let Cloud drink. Gaara and Kankuro seemed adapted to the climate, though, and didn't drink. It was rather mild, being the desert season of 'between summer and winter', the short few weeks that this season was.

A large cliff rose before them, and Yasu could see no way through it, but followed Gaara, looking out over the horizon. It was so _flat_ here; she could see until the horizon. Almost like the ocean. As the cliff got closer, Yasu saw a crack in it, barely big enough for a horse to fit through. When they finally came out on the other side, a mass of earth-buildings stretched out before Yasu. She stared around, taking in as much as she could. The whole village was in the shade now, because the sun was far enough down that the cliff's shadow covered everything.

The group headed towards the center of town, where all the streets seemed to lead. Kankuro walked up to Gaara and talked in a low voice to him. Gaara nodded and mumbles something in return. Yasu was only vaguely curious: she was half-asleep, getting some rest now for the watch she would definitely have tonight, whether they were safe or not. Kankuro bowed slightly towards Gaara and departed towards the large circular building ahead.

Gaara sighed as Cloud acted more and more wild. There were few people in the streets, but they seemed to be gathering to watch the small procession.

As soon as Yasu arrived at the circular building, she was swept off the horse by Gaara and set onto a medical stretcher. Cloud was taken in hand by someone who obviously had worked with horses before, and led away, probably back to freedom.

"Yasu, just go get professionally looked after, you'll be free tonight from the hospital, and since the sun's almost set, it'll be no time. In face, I'll take you to dinner if it will help your opinion of me." Gaara placed his hand on Yasu's forehead, and all she could do was glare, once again feeling defenseless and useless.

"Fine." She rolled to her side on the cot, and one of the two guys carrying the cot winced unapprovingly through his mask. It moved smoothly away through the hallways and Yasu kept track of all the twists and turns, still irritated that she was being treated like… well, a Genin. Even though she was one, technically. Hopefully, the Chunin exams would change that. The doctors walked her through a final doorway into a rather quaint-looking room, and removed their masks, closing the door and blinds for privacy. Yasu realized that one doctor was actually a woman.

"Alright, we'll need to see the injury. You were stabbed through, correct? Not the worst, but certainly not good to leave untreated for a day. Professional help is…" She fell silent as she removed the bandages, seeing the nicely healing skin underneath. Yasu smirked triumphantly as it was realized the wounds WERE professionally treated, at least as much as possible without chakra. Still, though, the nurse was unsatisfied.

"You've clearly moved about too much, rest more!" She said, determined to get a scolding word in. Yasu sighed and rolled her eyes as the doctor took a sterile needle out of a dispenser and threaded it with a black dissolving thread. Yasu eyed it warily and winced as it was cleanly poked through her flesh, several times, to sew up the wound, which was already healed enough (in Yasu's opinion) that it didn't need stitches. She groaned, exasperated, as the doctor flipped her over for the entrance wound. By the time she was securely bandaged, Yasu was ready to battle someone again… someone who just threw out a used sewing needle.

"Alright," Yasu grimaced at her voice, not liking the doctor at all, "You may go, but take it easy, I will send for a nurse to accompany you to Gaara's quarters, and he will take you from there; he has asked we treat you as his special guest." _Special guest my …_ Yasu thought irritably. She walked around, feeling a little better despite herself. The nurse arrived, a rather young guy, still older than Yasu, but young for a professional. He led her away, down all the same hallways, only going down a different one when they arrived in the lobby. They didn't speak at all, but when they had obviously reached the destination, he bowed himself away.

"I hope your stay here is a pleasant one, Honorary guest." He knocked twice on a brilliant set of double doors and departed. Yasu examined the hallway outside Gaara's rooms, and it was pretty decorative for a hallway. There was and aerial picture of the sand village. She examined it as the doors swung open silently, and Gaara appeared at her side.

"You are well, then? Do you want to get settled, or shall we just go eat?" Yasu considered, and Gaara understood her hesitance. "Your belongings are in your room, would you like to see where you will be staying?" Without waiting for Yasu's reply, he led her into his rooms, which had a hallway after a large kitchen and sitting area. "These rooms are reserved for the top ninja and council of Sunagakure, and the rooms farther down are for honored guests." Yasu stared at the brilliance of these rooms, and she suddenly realized what was so strange.

"Why do you have all this power in Sunagakure?" Gaara smirked back at her teasingly.

"You really are unaware of any political goings-on, aren't you? I am going to be the Kazekage, and you have brought me here for the celebrations and authorizations to commence, and when they are finished, you will accompany me back to the Leaf Village for my council there as Kazekage to Hokage, to seal ties with Konohagakure." Yasu plodded along, stunned, when Gaara came to a stop outside a large door.

"I hope you enjoy this room; it's not the biggest guest room there is, but it has access to the balcony, which is only accessible from three other rooms: another guest room, my quarters, and the main council room." He swung open the door and Yasu gasped in amazement; everything was well looked after, although it was apparent this room had not been used in a long time. There was a huge four-post bed with transparent satin-like materials draping, and everything was color-themed; brown, dark green, and gold. Yasu saw her belongings on the bed and sifted through them. Gaara stood in the doorway and waited patiently.

Yasu completed her assessment of the bathroom, kitchen, and even sitting room, which were all quartered off, and joined Gaara in the doorway.

"What would you like to eat?" He smiled at Yasu, and she felt incredibly spot-lighted. It was uncomfortable, and she looked away from him; her memory had made Gaara's eyes seem to flicker to a gorgeous blue…

"Barbecue and sweet-and-sour meat sounds good to me right now." Yasu surprised herself at how well she adjusted to the 'royal' treatment. _Maybe I'm meant to be royalty._ She laughed to herself, getting a confused but pleased look from Gaara. The longer he paid attention to her, the more awkward it seemed.

Dinner was quiet, and a few townspeople stared, but it was pleasant. Yasu enjoyed the meat to the fullest, resisting licking the plate of the sauce and meat that would not be picked up with chopsticks. When dinner was over, she was allowed free reign of the town, and Gaara excused himself, bowing to Yasu, on the excuse of arrangements needing to be made. Yasu bowed deeply back, respectful of his title, and as a friend.

She walked around, using her chakra to find horses; the first horse she 'found' was Cloud, because she was familiar. Yasu soon sensed Cloud was within a captive herd, and let herself into the pasture, figuring she would be able to, especially since she was a guest. The horses came over, curious, and Yasu would spend the next few hours petting and grooming them before turning in.

_**In Konoha**_

The Toad Hermit sat at the base of a tree, watching his student train himself to exhaustion. He knew there was nothing he could do to help him calm down and take a break, but by the kid's extraordinary powers given him by the Kyuubi, he would be fine tomorrow. Wait, that wasn't right; not a kid, definitely. He was a young man now, and feeling the pressures of it, surely. Otherwise he wouldn't be training himself to exhaustion so foolishly over worry of the girl. The sage's new student wore heavily on both their minds, harrowing them with worry. Not that it did any good to worry; if the mission had been successful, Yasu would be in Sunagakure by now. Another thing Jiraiya had noticed was Naruto hadn't spoken of the Kyuubi to her. Perhaps he was worried it would change her opinion of him, though from what Jiraiya had gathered, it would take a lot more than that to make Yasu dislike Naruto.

"Ero-sennin!" Jiraiya was startled to the present by his student.

"What?" Naruto stood panting and scraped up but arrogant over Jiraiya, who bothered himself to stand. "Are you done trying to kill yourself off?"

"I'm going to Sunagakure. I have to go check, just to make sure." A snort came from the shadows, where a black horse had been grazing. He tossed his head, three tails waving back and forth intimidatingly. Naruto shot the horse an irritated glare, then his face brightened.

"Akira! You would know, of course, if Yasu is alright." Naruto strode over to the tailed horse and rested his hand on the rippling black coat. Akira had flourished in Yasu's absence; as if Yasu had a suppressing nature about her, which kept in Akira's demon nature. His tails had grown in, one a day. There was already evidence a fourth would be growing in, and Naruto took excellent care of the stallion, making his coat and tails shine. The sage and student had decided to keep Akira in the quiet until they determined how many tails he had. Of course, Hokage knew, but no one else would for a while. Naruto suppressed Akira somehow as well, but had nowhere near the effect Yasu had.

Akira snorted and shoved his head into Naruto's open hand, looking at him for a moment with fiery eyes. Naruto met Akira's stare and subdued the fire, until Akira seemed like a well-trained mount. Akira had been much more spirited lately, and Naruto and Jiraiya believed that only the kyuubi within Naruto (with the maximum number of tails) had the power over Akira to calm him.

"Well, boy, is Yasu alright?" Akira tossed his head, and Naruto took it that Akira didn't know. However, a thought ran through his mind; Shikamaru and Temari would be returning, tonight if all was well. He could ask them of Yasu!

"Come on, Sennin! Let's go find Shikamaru and Temari!" He started off, and Jiraiya sighed before yelling after him about the time of night it was and how stupid was Naruto, anyway? Akira watched them leave and continued grazing in the forested outskirts of the village, his temporary residence.

Enough information for you? lol Well, I got half-way through the chapter before realizing it was BORING, so I cut it up, threw in some good stuff, and put it down with sprinkles on top! I got a lot of good points across once I started writing in a no-nonsense sort of way, so I think I'll keep that up. Oh, another thing; if you don't want to review, I've decided I don't care. XP Because, first and foremost, this story is for ME! Akira's not only growing tails (how many will he get..? Huh? What do you think?) he's muscling out, becoming a fully mature stallion, whereas before he was rather strong, pretty fast, etc. Now, he's a tailed beast. Wonder if he'll have to be sealed? I don't think Yasu would like that very much. Well, hope this leaves you pondering! (Also, I need some good words for processing, coronation, proceedings, whatever describes Gaara's brining in. I can't think of just the right word, for some reason.) Well, I've ranted. Review please!


	16. Sunagakure Cont'd

**©2007 Ekonika (S.N.R.)**

**Disclaimer: Alright! *fist punches the air* I am READY!!! Write, write, write!!! I don't own Naruto.**

**Chapter 16: Sunagakure Continued**

"Gaara-sama, a report straight from the hospital. It's a little troubling, but shouldn't be a problem. If anything, it should be an advantage." The adult ninja bowed before the red-haired teen, relaying the message. Gaara rested upon a chair and looked upon the messenger as if bored. He sat up with a slow easy movement, everything about him declaring power and authority.

"Report." His voice sounded as lethargic as he looked, but held just as much power. The man obeyed willingly.

"The girl you have brought here, Yasu-san, has expressed an extraordinary ability for healing. She has used nothing but home-made remedies to treat her clearly serious wound, and it has half-healed in just a day. We believe if she had some real medical training, it would greatly benefit whichever village she belonged to." Gaara's eyes focused upon the messenger with curiosity.

"What are you suggesting?" The messenger kept his head bowed and continued in an emotionless voice.

"The hospital staff have discussed it; they believe whole-heartedly that we should seek training for Yasu, and make her a Sand ninja. If not a full-fledged sand, then an honorary member, which we could signify with a wristband. We would like to present the idea to her soon." Gaara twirled a cork between his fingers thoughtfully.

"I shall ask her." The messenger bowed. "You may go." He left. Gaara stood with a sigh and left his office to find the Leaf Genin, who was probably already out and exploring, even though the sun had just come up, and last night she had been out in the horse field long past dark.

~*~*~*~*~

"Wow! Look at that!" Yasu spoke to herself, wandering a 'main street' of the village, where a lot of shops were. She ducked into another shop that had an array of plants in the window, and came out with another bag; granted, it was a small bag, but there were three others. She continued walking down the street and looked at a stand of clothes. There were some really fancy kimonos and clothes there, and they were very well-priced for their quality. Yasu admired them, knowing she could afford no such thing, and it was foolish to waste money on something so unpractical. But, then again, some missions were undercover, and fitting in at a fancy event as a woman might come up sometime; it would certainly help in that situation.

Her hand ran over the silk of a beautiful green with imprints on it of brown/orange dark patterns that looked like horses. She studied them for a minute and realized they WERE horses, in various positions like running, bucking, jumping, and… well, it was just _amazing_. She thought for a while, and the shopkeeper offered assistance.

"No, I'm alright… I love this dress- kimono, but I'm pretty sure I could not afford it."

"We'll take it, please. Just package it to go." A hand settled on Yasu's shoulder and she froze, then slowly turned to see Gaara handing over the money. The shopkeeper smiled and took it off display, and Yasu balked.

"I don't need it for anything, I was just looking! Don't! I'm not going to buy it!" The shopkeeper paused, looking from Gaara to Yasu.

"Yes, you will need it, if you're planning on coming to any of the ceremonies. They won't be casual wear, or even practical wear, but you're welcome to wear that underneath, if you wish." Shopkeeper continued folding the garment.

"Don't buy it for me! That's about 20,000 yen ($172-ish)! I won't accept it!" The shopkeeper sighed and stopped again.

"Fine, pay half if you must. Or, refund me later. Just package it, now, please." Finally, the money changed hands and Gaara held a nicely wrapped kimono. He held it out for Yasu. She looked at it wistfully and turned over Gaara's debt-system in her head, then accepted and took the dress lightly, clutching it to her chest.

"Thank you! Just take it out of my mission fee." Yasu grinned and rejoiced, waving goodbye to the shopkeeper. Once they had walked a ways, in no particular direction and for no particular reason, she stopped and looked up at Gaara. "Aren't you supposed to be… you know, getting ready or something?" He turned to her, finally settling.

"Yes. I will go in a minute, but the hospital has informed me that they believe you could benefit from some medical training. Of course, they really mean they could benefit from you-" Gaara grunted as Yasu tackled (nah, that's not the right word… you all know what glomp is, right? Well, learn it. She glomped him.) him and caught his breath when she backed up, eyes shining.

"Medical training? With chakra and everything? I would love to! I can't tell you how long my skills have seemed inadequate! When do I start?" Gaara smiled, regaining his composure.

"Whenever you wish, I suppose. However, I would like to… quiz you, later today. Meet me in my lobby at 4 pm. I'll see you there, and good luck training." He walked away, smiling, then disappeared in a sand whirlwind. Yasu took off running towards the hospital and burst through the doors, drawing attention. She immediately calmed down after realizing that, and walked up to the receptionist, who seemed alarmed at Yasu's exuberance.

"Who is hurt? I'll call the doctors, right away." She reached for a button, but Yasu stopped her.

"I'm just here for medical training, Gaara has sent me." The receptionist raised an eyebrow at Yasu's casual reference to the Kazekage-to-be, but pressed the button and spoke to a doctor.

"Yasu is here for training, Kazekage-sama has sent her already." A voice came back and asked for Yasu to be sent right over. "Alright, go down the hallway behind me, and it's the third door on your left." Yasu thanked her and came to the door shortly, swinging it open quietly.

"I'm here for training?" She could hardly keep her excitement contained, and a female doctor approached her.

"Hello, I'm Hotaru. Right this way, we'll get to work on some chakra exercises right away." The day passed with Yasu's progress continuing to impress Hotaru-sensei, and by the end of the training, Yasu could easily summon healing chakra as well as destructive chakra. She bowed to Hotaru, agreeing to come back the next day, and went to find Gaara. Showing up a little early wouldn't hurt.

After a short wait, Gaara appeared in a sand whirlwind by Yasu's side. She startled and jumped to her feet, having been nearly drowsing in the chair.

"Your quiz is this: eat, dance, sit, stand. Only, you must do it as if you are royalty!" Yasu's look of confusion turned to disgust.

"You mean be all petite and… take little bites, and be generally uncomfortable?" Gaara smiled again.

"Yes, that's mostly it. Now, first we'll practice sitting." He gestured to a couple chairs, and Yasu strode over to one and sat down lightly, crossing her legs and folding her hands on her lap.

"Fancy enough?" Gaara corrected her, telling her to cross her ankles instead, and keep her arms on the armrests. Fidgeting wasn't a good thing, and if your hands were together, you'd probably fidget. He made her sit up straight and look proud, and then she had to practice getting in and out of the chair.

After thirty minutes, Gaara had his hand over his face and Yasu was trying her best to stand in high heels. She wobbled as she walked, and finally tried to look at this in a new light: as if it were ninja training. When she looked at it that way, it was a lot easier to walk, because it became a balance exercise. She practiced for another few minutes, and Gaara finally sighed and called it quits.

"Alright, you have two training lessons every day for the next week. Now, today's… Tuesday, so you will have your etiquette lessons until next Sunday, and your med lessons until next Tuesday. Wednesday will be a day of rest before we journey back to the Leaf Village. Any questions?" Yasu thought it over, much more comfortable to be receiving directions.

"I'll see you tomorrow then. Oh, one question, why will these lessons stop on Sunday?"

"Monday is the day they will be put to the test, and you would do well to remember them. It's the day I'm officially Kazekage, and you'll be sitting at my table, so we have to get you ready. You're not crowd-shy, are you?" Yasu thought for a little, and decided she wasn't, as long as she wasn't supposed to do anything in particular. Sitting there and filling a space would be fine, even if everyone stared when she was introduced.

"As long as I don't have to do anything, I'll be fine." Gaara gave Yasu a look that made her apprehensive. "Wait, I… I won't have to do anything, will I?"

"Well, there's a dance, and I was hoping you'd be my partner, but I'm sure I can find someone else. Besides, I'm not too sure you can dance all that well."

"I can dance perfectly fine! Well, I could, if I learned!" Yasu protested, not sure which side of this argument she was on yet. Gaara just smiled and left with a quick 'goodbye'.

That night, after she'd gone through the horse field again and even ridden some of the more bad-tempered ponies, Yasu fell asleep quickly and happily.

~*~*~*~_In Konoha_~*~*~*~

Shikamaru and Temari left the Hokage's meeting room, where they discussed their mission. They were ready to go to sleep, now that it was almost sunrise, when a loud racket reached their ears. Temari stood back in shock as Shikamaru was plowed over as an orange blur ran by. Naruto skidded to a halt and caught Shikamaru by his jacket, setting him on his feet, when he disappeared in a poof and the real Shikamaru stepped from behind Temari.

She thought, '_Of course Shikamaru's not so out of it that he'd let Naruto catch him with that, especially with the preceding clamor…' _ Naruto laughed and hung his arm over Shikamaru's shoulder, recovering quickly, but panting.

"I'm glad I caught you guys! Did you just get back from the escort mission?" Temari began to answer, but Naruto cut her off, turning serious. "Is Yasu alright? Did something happen to her?" Jiraiya's jogging footsteps sounded from around the curved hallway and he came into sight, panting as well.

"Sorry about Naruto, you know him. We can come back later if you'd like to rest first." The two Jonin (Tem and Shika) considered it for a second, then shook their heads, agreeing on something silently.

"Yasu will be fine, she's probably mostly healed by now. We ran in to some enemy jonin out there, but we chased them off. Yasu didn't get away so easily, but she did have her opponent trapped, despite being stabbed through the side." Shikamaru said lightly, but the others could tell he was worried as they were, even Temari was concerned. Naruto turned to the Sage.

"I'm going to the sand village now, ok? Are you going to come with me?" Jiraiya scoffed disbelievingly.

"What's gotten into your head, kid? You're NOT going, and that's final. Yasu will be fine, you heard. If you're so concerned, send a messenger hawk. And didn't you hear they were attacked by jonin? You don't think you could handle that on your own, do you? Go back to your room and get some sleep, you've been up all night training! I'll go look into this, it doesn't seem right. I'll tell you what Tsunade lets me know, ok?" Naruto set his feet and refused to move.

"I'm coming with you." Shikamaru and Temari sighed and departed, realizing they were no longer the focus. Jiraiya turned to Naruto and got right in his face.

"You are going back to your room now, before you kill yourself. Don't tell me you won't, you've almost done it before. Now, you can take this scroll," he took a scroll out of his jacket, "and write a good long letter to her, so you'll know she's fine. This is her mission, not yours, and she needs to show Tsunade what she's worth. You can understand that, I know. Now go on, I'll tell you what I find." Naruto gave a stubborn look to Jiraiya, but turned to go. He immediately fell onto his face, half-asleep and exhausted. He stood again and left irritably, saying nothing to Jiraiya, who had chuckled.

He arrived in his room and lit a candle, hardly needing it for the lightening sky outside. He unrolled the scroll and began writing, until the sun was up and hovering over the horizon. He settled into bed, the scroll tied with a green thread and a hair from Akira's tail that he'd given willingly.

Naruto yawned and grinned at the scroll, and it teetered on the edge of his fingers as he fell asleep. Akira, who had let himself in through the window (he'd shrunk himself) took the scroll and set it on the bedside table and pulled a sheet over the exhausted Kyuubi-ninja with fondness for the boy and respect for what he saw inside, and settled in for the day as guard. If he was precious to Yasu, he would be accepted.

Akira sighed at the thoughts running through his mind. He was only a young tailed beast, and humanlike thoughts ran through his head; the greater level of intelligence was welcome, but he could no longer be 'just a horse', however grand he'd been as a horse. The Ninetail fox was inside Naruto, he'd known it all along, but now it was becoming a problem to him. If the ninetail was this evil, wouldn't that make him so as well? Yasu was first and foremost in his mind, but with her absent, he could consider if she hadn't been there. He would probably have been killed, or sealed, just as the Kyuubi was. Akira looked towards Naruto's seal, exposed because Naruto was only sleeping with shorts on and had ruffled the sheets.

"_What's it like, being in there? How do you get along with your container?"_ Akira thought, not expecting an answer. He snorted when a voice he knew could be none other than the demon's answered. Naruto grunted and tossed in his sleep.

"_**Who speaks?"**_ Akira laid his ears back, then set them forward, alert.

"_I do, another tailed creature, like yourself."_ Akira felt the Kyuubi laugh and grin.

"_**Well, I must say I'm surprised. I have spoken to no one but my container since I was sealed. Your questions are deep ones. In here it is miserable, feeling the human emotions, unable to move. Of course, you are liked by my container, and I feel the emotion, but I do not share it."**_ The Kyuubi warned. Akira nodded.

"_Of course."_ The Ninetail grinned in approval and spoke again, for the last time.

"_**My container, Naruto, is not so bad as humans go. He has qualities I admire, but I do not have the slightest bit of affection for this boy. The one you travel with is odd, though. It disquiets me while she is around. I would like to talk with her. Don't get defensive, I will not harm her. When she returns, let her speak with me."**_ The Kyuubi fell silent and Akira thought, a little unnerved, but he felt there was much more to the demon's words that what he had let out. He seemed fond of Naruto, no matter what he said. He didn't seem to want to hurt Yasu, either, only curiosity. Thoughts pestered Akira as the day passed, and Naruto slept well.

I write this stuff off the top of my head, I hope you know. Seriously. I had no idea Akira could talk with Kyuubi. Or Kyuubi wanted to talk to Yasu. Where is this coming from? I don't Know! ^_^ Oh well. I'll work some more on my other fanfic, but it'll be a while before I get any other chapters up, school work… *sigh* well, Sayonara, Dattebayo!


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